The City of Houston has assumed control of a notorious apartment complex in the Sunnyside neighborhood of the city as residents flee the complex for safer, cleaner and livable apartments.
Friday morning Civil Court Judge Alexandra Smoots-Hogan appointed a temporary receiver to collect rent and make sure the bills being neglected by management are paid to keep the electricity and water flowing at Crestmont Village.
The order effectively gives the City of Houston control of the property and the authority to decide the best course of action for the property and the residents.
Meanwhile, volunteers cooked breakfast for residents Friday morning and a truck from the Houston Food Bank arrived Friday afternoon with enough non-perishable food for every resident: supplies to keep them fed until they can find new apartments.
Volunteers are helping residents locate new apartments and apply for City of Houston vouchers for their first month's rent.
They're people like Christina Douglas, living in a mix of mold, mildew, bugs and water and power that keep getting turned off because the landlord doesn't pay the bills.
"There is nobody, ever, that needs to live like this," said Douglas who showed us where her kitchen ceiling had collapsed from a water leak in the apartment above. "We honestly don't look like we live in America right now. This is ridiculous, honestly."
The landlords, identified as Denise and Abraham Vaknin, are New Jersey millionaires who have faced these same slumlord accusations before.
The Miami Herald reporting residents and officials in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami took them to court for these same reasons in 2013 for an apartment building the Vakinins owned there.
"In this fourth largest and one of the richest cities in the nation, it is a shame for anybody to mistreat people like this," said volunteer Sandra Massie Hines who has been helping coordinate relief supplied for the residents.
"And I feel like we were put on the lowest pedestal. Because people in prison are living better than we are," added Douglas.
The City of Houston has a recorded list of safety violations for the Crestmont Village Apartments dating back to at least 2005.
Many of them listed as "failure to repair" and "failure of owner of a building to maintain in a clean and sanitary condition."
The owners reportedly owe tens of thousands of dollars in utility bills and fines and were still collecting rent from the residents even though the utilities were repeatedly disconnected for non-payment.
