By Francesca D’Annunzio and Leah Waters
Brittany Jones spoke with conviction at St. Stephen United Methodist Church in Mesquite, overwhelmed at the turnout of people who came to take on Hillcrest Apartments, where she and fellow tenants say they’ve endured uninhabitable living conditions for months.
“As long as you have the Lord and the truth with you, you can win. The devil is out here, man,” she said, eliciting “hallelujahs” and “amens” from the crowd of nearly 50 tenants, church members and housing advocates who gathered last week with one goal: to take matters into their own hands.
When the night ended, they had formed a coalition: the Hillcrest Tenants Union.
“Anything is possible with Christ,” one tenant sitting in the sanctuary said.
“But He never said anything is possible with Christ and it’s gonna be easy,” Jones replied.
If the tenants can get legal aid to take their case, they hope a court will force their landlord to remedy long-standing code violations, including sewage backups, nonfunctional AC and heating systems, gray water, mold and cockroach infestations.
This week, Hillcrest Apartments agreed to a court order requiring the landlords to eliminate all code violations and allow the city to conduct full inspections in June.
The court also ordered them to pay for a third-party entity to evaluate tenants’ claims for alternate housing.
Sarah Ahmed, an attorney at Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas who is working with some Hillcrest residents, said it’s an attempt to give the responsibility to an unbiased group.
“It seems that Hillcrest had previously stated that they did repair the heating,” she said. “But that was not actually the case. So I don’t think the city trusts that Hillcrest will be doing their part.”
The temporary injunction lasts until Jan. 30, 2023, when a non-jury trial is scheduled to take place and expands on previous court orders with these terms:
- Requires the landlords to eliminate all violations by June 10.
- Grants the city full access to the property for inspections starting in June. Requires the landlord to notify all Hillcrest tenants about the court order
- Prevents Hillcrest management from moving tenants into any apartment units until they’ve been inspected and approved by the city officials first.
- Lists 31 types of code violations the city has issued to the property owner.
The landlord will have to provide alternate accommodations — such as hotels — to tenants who don’t have adequate and functioning AC, heat, hot water, and those who live in a unit within 200 feet of sewer discharge.
‘Back to square one’
Several residents have said the landlord and the city have repeatedly failed to address their concerns.
Regina Scroggins, 59, has lived at Hillcrest for over a decade. She said the lawsuit hasn’t changed anything for her: none of her long standing maintenance issues — including a wall covered in mold — have been addressed, she said. The city doesn’t answer the phone when she calls, she said.
“Anybody can put something down on paper,” she said, referring to the lawsuit. “But if they don’t follow through with it, we still gonna be back to square one.”
Many Hillcrest residents say they have not been offered alternative lodging after sending multiple requests to management about a lack of services ordered by the court.
Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas’ Tenants Union, said she hasn’t talked to any Hillcrest tenants who have been able to take advantage of the court-ordered free hotel rooms.
Even with court-mandated lodging, Hillcrest families could face other challenges, such as transportation for children commuting to school and access issues for the disabled.
Mesquite City Manager Cliff Keheley said in a prepared statement that the city will “continue to perform inspections on units and respond to concerns raised by residents if the owner is not responsive to issues.”
Ahmed, the attorney, said her office has received several requests for help from tenants at Hillcrest, many of whom are being evicted.
“I have one, and I think I got a second one today, who was making the same complaints about repairs,” she said. “And then they’re getting eviction notices when their repairs are not actually being completed and corrected.”
A Dallas County court last week dismissed the eviction cases of about 20 Hillcrest tenants because the apartment complex’s representative filed the petition incorrectly, but others received new eviction notices this week.
Hillcrest residents whose repair requests haven’t been addressed by management and are getting eviction notices should speak with an attorney or may call Legal Aid’s Eviction Defense Line at 855-548-8457 to learn about their rights, Ahmed said.
Standing in solidarity
Jones said it still feels like they’re at square one.
“Nothing’s changed,” said Jones. “I’m defeated. I got people asking me, and I don’t know what to tell them.”
Geoffrey Moore, the lead pastor at St. Stephen, has opened his congregation to be a space for Hillcrest tenants to organize. The faith leader said he believes that the city, community and churches should be standing in solidarity with Hillcrest tenants and recognizing that institutions in the U.S. and in Texas are stacked against certain people — historically those who are lower-class and non-white.
Hillcrest tenants live in a census tract where 31.6% of the residents are Black, 26.9% are white and 21.8% are some other race, according to 2020 census data.
“This is what we’re called to do. This is the job that we’re given when we’re baptized into water, is to bring about God’s great kingdom. To bring about shalom, which means flourishing for everyone,” Moore said Monday after tenants announced their intent to form the coalition.
“This is how we have to do it.”
