After month without AC, residents in SE Houston apartment get some relief

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Residents of a South Acres apartment complex now have air conditioning in their apartments after about a month in the heat.

Sandra Collins reached out to Action 13 last week saying that she and her neighbors at the Villas at Sandrock Apartments in the 12000 block of Martin Luther King Drive had been struggling without air conditioning.

She set up six fans in the two-bedroom unit, hoping to get some relief from the heat. She said she could not cook in her apartment during that time because it got too hot, and she typically had to find somewhere else to go in the afternoon when the sun shined on her windows.

"You wouldn't want your mother or any other parts of your family to suffer such as this," Collins said. "So you wouldn't want to do it yourself, you know? That's all I ask. That's all I ask is to just be treated proper."

After Collins sounded the alarm, Action 13 contacted Councilwoman Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, who represents District D.

The councilwoman said she deemed this an emergency situation and contacted Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Since then, the Houston Health Department, Houston Public Works, and the Houston Housing Authority have been at the complex.

"These are human beings, and you cannot just collect their rent and not provide just basics, and air conditioning, to me, is basic," Shabazz said.

Public Works posted a violation notice on the office door Tuesday, with a list of three violations, including fixing the air conditioning system, and gave them 24 hours to fix it.

On Wednesday, a chiller arrived at the complex, and crews installed it.

"I was so very happy," Shabazz said. "When I got the information, I was elated."

"That would be a blessing," Collins said about having a working air conditioner in her apartment home. "It really would. It really would, because I could get some peaceful sleep. I'll have enough energy to get up and go do what I need to do."

An ABC13 crew went to the Katy corporate office of the complex's property management company, Allied Orion Group, on Wednesday after not being able to get in touch with them for several days.

Marissa Castellano, the representative over the complex, said the air conditioning system's chiller had been out for about two weeks. She said they planned to have a temporary chiller system on the property Wednesday or Thursday, and the violation from the city and ABC13's story the previous week did not play a part.

She said they brought in a temporary fix because replacing the chiller would take about eight months.

Residents said they were not informed by the complex that the AC system was broken or given any timeline on when it would be fixed.

"If you wouldn't tell me what you know, I wouldn't know anything," Collins told reporter Mycah Hatfield.

Castellano said they did not inform residents because they did not want to give them "false hope" on when it would be back up and running.

The on-site office was closed Tuesday and Wednesday. A note was posted to the door Wednesday afternoon, letting residents know that they were obtaining a permit from the city to install the chiller.

Since the Allied Orion Group took over managing the property in August 2022, Castellano said the air conditioner has been working at 50% capacity.

She said they offered residents to purchase window unit air conditioners since it went out completely, and the cost would be deducted from their rent.

Neither Collins nor Chante Carraway, who also lives at the complex, knew about the offer.

Collins said she asked if she could do that but was never given an answer. Carraway purchased a unit for her apartment Tuesday for $170.

The Villas at Sandrock Apartments received several citations from the city as part of this, according to Shabazz, and will be given a court date for those.

For more on this story, follow Mycah Hatfield on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.