Greenspoint apartment residents plead for rent assistance due to water-damaged units

HOUSTON – Residents of one Greenspoint apartment complex are asking their landlord to waive next month’s rent as they wait for their flood-damaged units to be repaired.

"They wouldn't want to live in this. They would not want to live here," Lakisha Kennedy, an apartment resident, said.

She and her family live on a first-floor unit at The Woods of Greenbriar. Their entire apartment was flooded recently. There is now mold growing on the walls and their furniture is stacked up in the middle of each room.  "I haven't been to work in almost two weeks,” Kennedy said.

Yet despite the fact that their apartment is basically unlivable, they’re still paying rent. "It's not the owner's fault that the flood happened, that's something they couldn't predict, something nobody could predict; however, all we're asking is to be assisted," Kennedy said.

Saturday afternoon, with the help of members from the Texas Organizing Project, residents made two requests of their landlord: get the repairs made in 30 days and waive their May rent.

"We believe the owners of these apartment complexes can work with these residents versus forcing them out, giving them evictions," Tarsha Jackson with the Texas Organizing Project said.

While the property owner sympathizes with his residents, he says the situation is not so simple.

When it comes to repairs, he says he's waiting on permits so inspectors can get inside the units.

And as far as rent, for now he's only offering 25 percent off.

"I will not be a different owner than anybody else in this community. If the mayor says every owner has to do this, I will do it. I will not be the black sheep in the community," Narinder Nagra, the property owner, said.

Residents say they've been told if they break their lease, they will have to pay fines.

However Saturday, the property owner told the media residents can leave whenever they want without any penalties.

Starting Monday, flood victims will have an easier way to get the help they need.

A number of disaster recovery centers will open at noon around Harris County.

City, county and state representatives, along with federal agencies, will staff the centers Monday through Saturday at four locations around town.