‘We are asking for help’ | Fed up renters take their frustrations to San Antonio City Council

SAN ANTONIO — It’s a day for love. However, fed up renters spent Valentine’s Day bringing attention to another basic need, shelter. Their Valentine’s Day gift for San Antonio City Council members included roses and photos of rats. 

Several tenants claim they are living in appalling and unsafe conditions, and urged council members to revisit the city’s enforcement policies on Wednesday. 

Willie Rector said her nightmare began three years ago at the Seven Oaks Apartment Homes in the Medical Center. 

“There was no hot water, leaky faucets, mold, mildew, infestations,” Rector said.

According to Rector, these conditions forced her to move out. However, she says the property management has now sent the remaining balance of her lease agreement to collections.

“This needs to be stopped,” she said. “They keep saying, ‘You signed the lease.’ I only signed the lease because they gave me promises. They didn’t do their part; they need to be held accountable.”

Earlier this month, renters welcomed KENS 5 into their homes on the west side. Those living at the Bexar Creek Apartments on General McMullen showed us the mice and cockroach infestations that plague them. Some are also dealing with mold.

San Antonio passed the ‘Proactive Apartment Inspections’ program a year ago.

“When tenants are having issues in their apartments, they can call 311,” explained Sofia Lopez, the housing justice director of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP). “After there are enough violations and the landlord has the opportunity to fix the situation, the complex will then go onto the proactive apartment inspection list and they will get a fine until they comply. That’s a great first step. However, I met tenants who filed code enforcement complaints almost a year ago and that apartment complex still isn’t on the proactive apartment inspection list. It begs the question, ‘Do we need to review the criteria that results in the apartment being put on the list?’”

TOP officials said affordable housing needs to be safe. The group is hoping the city revisits its requirements for the proactive apartment inspection list, and they are also hoping San Antonio considers an emergency fund for families stuck in deplorable living conditions without the financial means to move.

“I think the deeper issue that we have to address – and it is a policy-making issue for us – is, ‘What happens when they don’t meet those standards?’” asked San Antonio City Council Member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez. “It’s really important to me and my community that bad acting landlords are held accountable and eventually they cease to exist.”