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Tenants face uncertainty as complex shuts down
  
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By YVETTE OROZCO
Stephanie Fabre is tired of being invisible. Fabre was one of the most vocal tenants of the Vista Bonita Apartment complex, but she had done so anonymously. The complex on Tally Ho Road in Southeast Houston is now set to shut down on Monday due to unsafe living conditions.
“I’m not afraid anymore,” she said. “What can they do? The manager, the owner ... they can’t do anything anymore because they’re going to close it down.”
Fabre and her fellow Vista Bonita tenants have won part of the battle, by forcing city officials to pay attention to their living conditions, but they’ve also lost the only home they know.
“None of us have anywhere to go,” said Fabre.
For more than a month, the complex has been at the center of a struggle between tenants’ rights to livable conditions and its apartment owner’s apparent negligence, with alleged threats issued by Vista Bonita owners against residents if they spoke out.
Since Hurricane Ike, tenants claimed they had been living with mold, unsafe electrical units, and sporadic air conditioning and heating at the apartments, conditions tenants maintained the management made no efforts to alleviate or correct.
In October, they began to complain publicly, but conditions remained unchanged.
After the accidental drowning of a toddler more than three weeks ago at the complex, with Houston police reporting that 23-month-old Conor Rose had managed his way though a torn fence meant to keep children away from the pool area, the current conditions were brought to light.
The city of Houston had been in the process of evaluating Vista Bonita’s fate since, issuing a deadline for its owner, Nanik Bhagia, to fix the problems.
Early last week, Bhagia made his move and beat that deadline by giving his tenants notice: they would have to leave by the next Monday and the complex would shut down.
“Where are we going to go in that short period of time?” asked 24-year-old Theresa Hernandez. “We can’t afford to just pick up, leave and go somewhere else.”
The apartments have a history of complaints and city-issued code violations, going back at least 30 years.
“I’ve been here since I was a teenager and we’ve always had problems,” said Hernandez. “Nothing has ever been done.”
Now, the complex’s current tenants are paying the price, feeling angry at its owner and uncertain of their future.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Fabre, who worries about her two young children.
Both Fabre and Hernandez have participated in meetings held at South Houston Elementary School, where many of Vista Bonita’s children attend, to listen to representatives from various legal and housing agencies who offered them vague options. But tenants remain skeptical.
“We keep hearing about how these people are trying to help us and how that group is trying to help, but so far its just talk,” said Hernandez. “I feel like we’re just being thrown out like strays out on the street, but at least strays can’t be thrown off the street.”
The school, said Fabre, has tried to help, by providing support and a safe forum for their grievances.
“The school can’t give us a home,” she said.
According to tenant Bonnie Whitsett, the apartments have been without gas for the last three weeks and as late as last Wednesday, Bhagia was allegedly still throwing out threats to cut off the electricity before Monday and not giving their refunds.
“You can’t just treat people like this and expect them to lie down and take it,” said Whitsett. “I’m tired of lying down and taking it.”
Previously, Fabre, Hernandez and Whittsett worried about losing their home if they spoke out, but now they’re just bitter.
“He (Bhagia) gets to go home and go to sleep with a nice roof over his head,” said Hernandez. “This is just a paycheck for him, but we had to live here.”
Hernandez said she feels they’ve lost no matter what happens to Bhagia, who could not be reached for comment.
“He’ll probably get them (apartments) opened again in a few months, but we’re left with nowhere to go,” she said.
After Sunday, Vista Bonita will be no man’s land, leaving the 122-unit, low-income complex, which is hidden in the back and on the edge of East Haven Road along the Gulf Freeway, desolate except for its half-empty, half-crumbling exterior.
The tenants had fought for better living conditions and lost their home, but they maintain a deep communal bond.
“We’ve always stuck to together and looked out for each other,” said Hernandez. “We’re all in this together.”
Between the city of Houston, and other agencies evaluating their housing situation, Fabre, Hernandez and Whitsett are relying on their own resources and trying to find some solace and security in what they do have.
“It’s Thanksgiving, and man, it just makes it so much harder,” said Hernandez. “I’m thankful I’m alive because I’ve got nothing else. If I had a big, two-story house I would let everybody come and stay with me because that’s all we have — each other.”
“I’m not afraid anymore,” she said. “What can they do? The manager, the owner ... they can’t do anything anymore because they’re going to close it down.”
Fabre and her fellow Vista Bonita tenants have won part of the battle, by forcing city officials to pay attention to their living conditions, but they’ve also lost the only home they know.
“None of us have anywhere to go,” said Fabre.
For more than a month, the complex has been at the center of a struggle between tenants’ rights to livable conditions and its apartment owner’s apparent negligence, with alleged threats issued by Vista Bonita owners against residents if they spoke out.
Since Hurricane Ike, tenants claimed they had been living with mold, unsafe electrical units, and sporadic air conditioning and heating at the apartments, conditions tenants maintained the management made no efforts to alleviate or correct.
In October, they began to complain publicly, but conditions remained unchanged.
After the accidental drowning of a toddler more than three weeks ago at the complex, with Houston police reporting that 23-month-old Conor Rose had managed his way though a torn fence meant to keep children away from the pool area, the current conditions were brought to light.
The city of Houston had been in the process of evaluating Vista Bonita’s fate since, issuing a deadline for its owner, Nanik Bhagia, to fix the problems.
Early last week, Bhagia made his move and beat that deadline by giving his tenants notice: they would have to leave by the next Monday and the complex would shut down.
“Where are we going to go in that short period of time?” asked 24-year-old Theresa Hernandez. “We can’t afford to just pick up, leave and go somewhere else.”
The apartments have a history of complaints and city-issued code violations, going back at least 30 years.
“I’ve been here since I was a teenager and we’ve always had problems,” said Hernandez. “Nothing has ever been done.”
Now, the complex’s current tenants are paying the price, feeling angry at its owner and uncertain of their future.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Fabre, who worries about her two young children.
Both Fabre and Hernandez have participated in meetings held at South Houston Elementary School, where many of Vista Bonita’s children attend, to listen to representatives from various legal and housing agencies who offered them vague options. But tenants remain skeptical.
“We keep hearing about how these people are trying to help us and how that group is trying to help, but so far its just talk,” said Hernandez. “I feel like we’re just being thrown out like strays out on the street, but at least strays can’t be thrown off the street.”
The school, said Fabre, has tried to help, by providing support and a safe forum for their grievances.
“The school can’t give us a home,” she said.
According to tenant Bonnie Whitsett, the apartments have been without gas for the last three weeks and as late as last Wednesday, Bhagia was allegedly still throwing out threats to cut off the electricity before Monday and not giving their refunds.
“You can’t just treat people like this and expect them to lie down and take it,” said Whitsett. “I’m tired of lying down and taking it.”
Previously, Fabre, Hernandez and Whittsett worried about losing their home if they spoke out, but now they’re just bitter.
“He (Bhagia) gets to go home and go to sleep with a nice roof over his head,” said Hernandez. “This is just a paycheck for him, but we had to live here.”
Hernandez said she feels they’ve lost no matter what happens to Bhagia, who could not be reached for comment.
“He’ll probably get them (apartments) opened again in a few months, but we’re left with nowhere to go,” she said.
After Sunday, Vista Bonita will be no man’s land, leaving the 122-unit, low-income complex, which is hidden in the back and on the edge of East Haven Road along the Gulf Freeway, desolate except for its half-empty, half-crumbling exterior.
The tenants had fought for better living conditions and lost their home, but they maintain a deep communal bond.
“We’ve always stuck to together and looked out for each other,” said Hernandez. “We’re all in this together.”
Between the city of Houston, and other agencies evaluating their housing situation, Fabre, Hernandez and Whitsett are relying on their own resources and trying to find some solace and security in what they do have.
“It’s Thanksgiving, and man, it just makes it so much harder,” said Hernandez. “I’m thankful I’m alive because I’ve got nothing else. If I had a big, two-story house I would let everybody come and stay with me because that’s all we have — each other.”
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Reader Comments
LITTLE TEX wrote on Nov 24, 2008 1:38 AM:
" Unfortunately so many apartment communitites are like this one. But be one day late with your rent payment and all **** breaks loose. The legal community says tennants have "rights" --- hummmmmmm?? The only right you have is to pay your rent on time and get booted out. As far as most management companies/owners are concerned, if it is going to cost them money to make your apartment liveable ..... forget it! "
rmellow1234 wrote on Nov 23, 2008 3:51 AM: