North Houston apartment residents claim mistreatment

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A community in north Houston is demanding free rent. This comes after last week’s floods ruined many of the units inside of their apartment complex.  Saturday, they held a press conference asking for help.

The owner of the complex, Greenspoint Apartments, said free rent is just not possible. 

“Without any city inspections we cannot cover these walls,” said Narinder Nagra, owner of Greenspoint Apartments in north Houston.

Residents of Greenspoint Apartments said their walls are still damaged and full repairs have not yet been made from last week's floods. Saturday, many of them stood outside of the complex with members of the Texas Organizing Project to express their concerns.

“We were told Monday that they were going to come in and remove the sheet rock and it hasn’t been done,” said Lakisha Kennedy, a resident. 

The Texas Organizing project stood outside of the complex with many of the frustrated residents and demanded that action be taken to help them out.

“The walls have not been gutted out, mold has set in, and people should not be living in these types of conditions,” said Tarsha Jackson, with TOP. 

Nagra said he has done all he can, as quickly as he can, and now residents need to seek help elsewhere.

“What FEMA is doing is not my job,” said Nagra. “They need to look at FEMA and get help from them because that’s provided by the government. What I’m doing is my part. It’s what everyone else is doing in the area--all of the other apartment owners.”

But residents are asking for free rent for one month to help them get back on their feet.

“Everything is in total disarray,” said Kennedy. “And it’s not the owners fault that this happened. That’s something they couldn’t predict that’s something nobody could predict, but all we're asking for is a little assistance.”

Nagra responded by saying he too has bills to pay and he will not be bullied by his community to do something other apartment owners do not have to do 

“If the mayor says every owner has to do this, I will do it,” he said. “I will not be the black sheep in the community.”

At this time  Nagra said once the units are inspected by the city he can complete the repairs. In the meantime, he is only requiring residents to pay 25% of May’s rent, and allowing them to terminate their contracts without any penalties.

The residents plan to meet with the apartment complex owners on Tuesday. They hope they can come to some sort of agreement on a plan of action.