Houston, TX – It has been almost five years since the seniors living at 2100 Memorial, a Houston Housing Authority (“HHA”) property with a view of Downtown Houston, were displaced due to Hurricane Harvey. Now, they are on their way home. The HHA broke ground Tuesday morning on an affordable senior living facility to replace the former building, subject to major litigation.
Late Friday, September 22, 2017, attorneys Mark Grandich and Rich Tomlinson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the residents living at 2100 Memorial Drive.
In the immediate aftermath of Harvey’s torrential rainfall, the first floor of the building flooded. During the storm, the elderly residents lost power. Then they lost functionality of the building’s water pump. During those days, with the elevator out of service, friends, family, and health care providers went up and down stairwells in the 14 story building, delivering everything the residents needed, including food, healthcare, and water buckets to flush the toilets. Thankfully, no one lived on the flooded first floor.
Within a few days, the flood water receded, the building’s water pump was restored, and residents could use the elevator again, allowing them to come and go. Life seemed to return to normal at that point.
Then, on September 18, 2017, 25 days after the storm hit, every resident discovered that Notices to Vacate (“NTV”) had been placed on their front doors. According to the NTV, the damage to each apartment from Hurricane Harvey was so extensive that they were considered “totally unusable for residential purposes…” Even worse, the residents were given only 5 days to leave. They didn’t understand – their apartments suffered minimal damage – if any.
The residents didn’t want their lives disrupted; they wanted to remain in their homes. They didn’t have anywhere to go – Houston was overflowing with families searching for affordable rentals, as their homes were unlivable. Even more discouraging, many of the residents at 2100 Memorial were disabled and needed to find a place to move equipped for disabilities. Forcing them to leave would have also separated them from their friends and neighbors, a vital part of their support network.
Helen Malveaux, an attorney experienced in fair housing issues, said, “there are studies where other natural disasters completely uprooted populations from their homes. Those studies show that the disruption in the lives of elderly persons can have long-reaching negative effects, including a reduction in cognitive function.”
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Harris County Judge Daryl L. Moore signed a Temporary Injunction in favor of the residents fighting notices to vacate. “This ruling did exactly what we intended with filing the suit. HHA had to prove why they felt it was necessary to evict 198 elderly residents,” said Tomlinson.
Judge Moore’s injunction stated the HHA could not evict the tenants unless it could prove the premise was unsafe for residential purposes. Additionally, it stated that the issues the HHA believed were unsafe needed to be fixed, tested, and inspected – all within 45 days. Paul Blinn, one of the residents and plaintiffs, recalled, “I thought the judge did the right thing, the city was totally off base. LSLA did a good job of presenting the case.”
After litigation that spanned just over 2 years, it was determined that in addition to the flooding, the building suffered from a slew of maintenance issues and needed to be rebuilt. A settlement was reached.
“That settlement basically provided that our clients would get vouchers to move to another affordable housing complex that was safe, and also granted the former residents preference to move back in when the new building is up,” said Tomlinson. “And they would also get a sum of money to deal with some of what they went through dealing with the Housing Authority.”
Ultimately, the lawsuit won residents additional months to move out, as well as housing-choice vouchers so they could move to a new affordable home.
On Tuesday, May 17, 2022, the HHA held a ground breaking ceremony at the site where the building once stood. It was demolished in 2021. The new building will sit two feet above the 500-year flood plain and meet new 2019 floodwater management regulations, which include a flow-through parking garage to safeguard the integrity of the building. The senior living community will offer 196 affordable homes with modern amenities. It will also feature landscaped courtyards with unimpeded skyline views of downtown. The array of first-class amenities includes a fitness center, theater, community meeting rooms, and a business center.
“I am happy the building is going back up and it’s going to be more flood proof than before. More than anything, I am happy my clients will get to move back home,” expressed Tomlinson.
Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations. Lone Star Legal Aid serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines that reside in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties of Southwest Arkansas. Lone Star Legal Aid focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety and stability, health, and well-being; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, or who are elderly, homeless, or have limited English language skills. Lone Star Legal Aid does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at https://www.lonestarlegal.org.
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