City publishes list of 'high risk' apartment buildings in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It's been more than six months since Houston City Council passed a new ordinance aimed at holding problem apartment complexes accountable.

So has that ordinance made any progress on improving problem apartments?

After months of requests, ABC13 has obtained a list of complexes the city deems "High-Risk Rental Buildings."

It includes 11 complexes across the city, with the number of citations and 311 complaints each one has received.

District F Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas said the list doesn't give much information and falls short of what she and others had in mind.

"It's just a list," Thomas said. "We were asking for a dashboard that actually has live information. So not only leaseholders, but government officials and the general public can understand the status of their own complex, and then they can hold property management and owners accountable."

Thomas said the list makes it unclear what each complex's citations are for, when they were issued, or if the problems have been resolved.

"That was the intent and the expectation of not just a routine list of a listing of apartment complexes, but actual information for council members and everyday Houstonians and say, 'Oh, this apartment complex is actively working to solve their issues,'" Thomas said.

ABC13 also found that multiple complexes on the list now go under different names, including the top complex on the list, which is located at South Gessner and Bissonnet.

A man who lives at that complex spoke to ABC13 but did not want to be identified out of fear of retaliation.

He said it would have been nice to have known such a list existed.

"I would have been more informed to either move here knowing what I'm moving into or maybe changing my mind," he said.

That renter said he moved into the complex around the time the new ordinance was passed in May, but the list we obtained says it wasn't published until August.

Thomas said she first saw the list two weeks ago.

ABC13 reached out to Houston Public Works, which Thomas said is ultimately responsible for maintaining the information.

That department told Eyewitness News they're looking into questions we sent them earlier on Wednesday.