Tenants face an uncertain future at troubled apartment complex in Hurst
Melli Berneck doesn’t know where she and her son will go if they have to leave the Dakota Place apartments, their home for almost seven years.
Berneck, 39, said she doesn’t have a vehicle or the financial resources to move elsewhere, and she worries that she and her 20-year-old son will be homeless.
The Dakota Place, with over 700 code violations including leaking roofs, faulty wiring, rodents, mold, leaking plumbing and insects, faces an uncertain future as Hurst officials grapple with finding solutions.
The city council will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss revoking the complex’s certificate of occupancy. If the certificate is revoked, it means the complex is uninhabitable.
Last month, the city council voted unanimously to increase the fines levied against the complex owner, Charles Mercer, to $1,000 per day.
Mayor Henry Wilson has said previously that the council is concerned about the safety of the residents.
“We don’t want to pull the certificate or demolish the complex. We want safety for the residents.”
Between a rock and a hard place
Randy Clinton, CEO of the Community Enrichment Center (CEC), said it is difficult to find affordable housing in the Fort Worth area where the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,200.
Clinton said he could not comment on the Dakota Place situation specifically, but added that some complexes are owned by landlords who live out of state. “They don’t see the tenants face to face,” he said.
In northeast Tarrant County, there are no shelters for the homeless, and people who find themselves in that situation must go to shelters in Fort Worth or Arlington, find a hotel that rents by the week, or live with family or friends, he said.
“I wish there was an easier answer for these folks, but it sounds like to me they need to start looking for another place,” Clinton said.
Moving is also expensive, and it is hard for people with limited resources to come up with the money for deposits and other costs of moving to a new apartment.
Challenges for cities
Cities are in a difficult place as well.
“Cities don’t want a black eye when it comes to putting people out on the streets,” Clinton said. “But if it’s so bad that it’s becoming a health hazard or safety hazard, which is worse, putting someone out on the streets or having someone die.”
Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants Union, said revoking a certificate of occupancy should be a last resort that cities use.
Texas doesn’t have statutes that allow tenants to withhold their rent when repairs aren’t being made or to put their rent into escrow accounts that can be used for repairs.
Rollins encouraged residents of the Dakota Place to attend a tenant empowerment workshop to meet legal aid attorneys. The workshop is at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Arlington Social Service Center, 501 West Sanford Street.
“We don’t like substandard housing, but when you are looking at a place that needs repairs versus being on the street, people would choose to be in the place that needs repairs,” she said.
Berneck started packing up family photos and other things in the event that she has to move. She said she feels safe in the complex, and that her apartment “isnt’ that bad.”
The two-story apartment with few windows, has bowed ceilings, and the ceiling tiles are rusting around the edges. A steady stream of water flows from the bathtub faucet in the upstairs bathroom, and Berneck said maintenance workers told her it would be a “big job” to fix it.
Berneck and her son rely on his income working at the J.C. Penny’s in Northeast Mall and help from her mother to pay for Lyft rides for shopping and for her son to get to and from work. She is also applying for disability benefits as she has post traumatic stress disorder and depression.
“Everything is unsettled right now. I feel scared. My son is not young anymore, and we don’t have any family here,” she said.
“The code violations are not my fault. I’m a Hurst resident,” she said.