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Nov 20, 2009 6:04 pm US/Central
Dallas Code Enforcement Surprised By Who Owns Home
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A low income family says there's no gas, no working plumbing and the house is sinking.
It is who owns the house in the 1600 block of Garden Street in South Dallas that is shocking.
Community prosecutors from the city have come to this home to see the conditions for themselves.
On Friday, they said the house is in such poor condition that no one should be living there.
Joey Zapata, Dallas' Code Enforcement Director, says the law requires certain basics to make a house inhabitable. "Does it have proper connection to water and wastewater systems?" he said. "Does it not have holes in the walls? And health standards. Does it have anything that carries disease?"
Our question is why would a former city councilman take money from anyone to live in the conditions we saw.
Katrina Lenzy doesn't have much, and the house she lives in has even less.
"We don't have plumbing in the house, so we use this to pour down the tank to flush it."
This two-bedroom two bathroom house was built 85 years ago.
"There is a hole in the floor right here."
There is no running water, and no heating for the home. Sewage pours from a pipe on the side of the house.
She hasn't paid her landlord the $500 per month rent for sixty days.
"When I told him , I'm not going to pay you until this is done, he told me to buy the house for $40,000."
The owner of the property lives in another neighborhood, a street lined with homes with Dallas' coveted historic landmark designation.
A man who sat on the Dallas City Council, fighting against dilapidated, deteriorating vacant houses permeating the residential streets of South Dallas.
The homeowner is former councilman Leo Chaney Jr.
Chaney would not agree to a full interview with CBS 11, but told us he has tried to make repairs to the home, but the tenants have kept him out.
He also says some home damage was created by the tenants.
Chaney owns three other properties in the area.
City code inspectors have posted violation notices on the front lawn.
And Katrina Lenzy now has an eviction notice from Leo Chaney.
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