Hurst City Council to consider options for apartments with over 700 code violations
Melli Berneck is worried about where she and her son will live if the Dakota Place apartments are demolished.
Berneck rents an apartment there with her 20-year-old son, and said she doesn’t have the financial resources to move.
“It’s horrible, not knowing what’s going to happen,” she said.
The complex was cited with over 700 health and safety code violations, including substandard electrical systems and leaking roofs, rodents, insects and faulty plumbing. The Hurst Fire Department declared the roofs too unsafe for firefighters.
The city council will discuss the next steps for the Dakota Place during its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Hurst City Hall, 1505 Precinct Line Road.
Charles Mercer, who owns the Dakota Place, said he wasn’t notified that the city council is scheduled to discuss the next steps for his property, and said he is in a dispute with the city over what needs to be done to repair the roofs.
Mercer said he is also concerned about his tenants.
“I love my tenants. I’ve had tenants who’ve moved out because they were afraid the building was going to be demolished. These people are paycheck to paycheck to paycheck. The uncertainty kills me,” he said.
Berneck said she has contacted the complex owner and management as well as the city of Hurst, but never got a response.
“”We don’t’ have the resources to move, not at all. I’m scraping money together to pay the rent,” she said.
The city sent an email statement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram which said the owner of the Dakota Place did not comply with Hurst’s requests to submit plans to repair the complex and bring it up to minimum standards by the Oct. 24 deadline.
“The City remains steadfastly committed to protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the Dakota even if its owners are unwilling or unable to meet their obligations. The City of Hurst has been working for several years to ensure that the residents of the Dakota Place Apartments have a safe and habitable place to live,” the statement said.
According to the city, Mercer was ordered to replace the roofs in 2016, but no building permit was obtained, and no permit applications were submitted during the past year.
Hurst hired an independent consultant to evaluate the roofs, and the consultant said the roofs on all four buildings were “near the end of their serviceable lives.”
Hardships for tenants
Berneck provided a copy of a letter with an October 1 date that was taped to her door.
Mercer’s letter to the tenants stated that he is in a dispute with the city over the roof repairs, told them not to panic, and that the Dakota wouldn’t be torn down.
Berneck, who is living in New Jersey temporarily to take care of family matters, said her son has a job at a fast food restaurant, and they are scraping money together to pay the rent. She is unable to work because she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder.
She said the roof in her apartment isn’t leaking, but there are numerous leaks from the air conditioning unit.
Berneck said she moved to Dakota place in 2013 and paid $834 in rent. Then, it increased to $890, and now she is paying $940. She is on a month to month lease, but she was told to sign a new lease and pay $1,100 a month.
Her son DJ Mercier said he has seen workers making repairs and putting down wood chips to keep mud from getting on to sidewalks at the complex and said the owner helped his family in the past when the rent was late.
“I personally think he’s (Mercer) a nice guy. I don’t want to see him lose income,” he said.
But Mercier said he is worried about where he will go if the apartments are demolished.
“Nobody has told us anything; we’re being kept in the dark,” Mercier said.
Mercier said he talked to the apartment manager who told him not to worry. He asked to have that statement in writing , but he never got anything from the manager.
Available options
Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants Union, said people like those who live at the Dakota Place are in a vulnerable position.
“If there was plenty of affordable housing and people had the means to pay, that would be one thing, but that’s not the case,” Rollins said.
People with low-paying jobs and limited incomes are being priced out and are struggling, she said.
“Tenants occupying these properties don’t have a lot of resources. Rather than use demolition as an answer, we’d like to see cities use their powers and appoint receivers so that tenants don’t suffer. Sometimes, tenants are punished more than the owners,” she said.
The Texas property laws favor landlords, but there are protections in place for tenants , Rollins said. However, the process for getting landlords to make repairs are not easy, she said, and involve tenants writing certified letters or taking their landlords to court.
Calling, sending texts or filling out a form on an online tenant portal doesn’t work in instances where landlords are not making repairs, she said.
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 5:30 AM.