CONROE – Community advocates and residents at an apartment complex in Conroe have been expressing their concern for unlivable conditions, which they say they have dealt with for years.
Residents tell KPRC 2 it has been a challenge getting adequate, timely help and resources to make conditions livable. Meanwhile, residents said they are getting sick and their children are suffering too.
Walking into Rosalynn Kizzee’s home at the Tall Timbers Apartments in Conroe, you can smell a strong stench. Kizzee has lived in those apartments for more than five years.
“It’s all over the ceiling, the bathtub,” Kizzee said while pointing to what she said was mold that has been growing all over the apartment.
“They’re not livable conditions,” Kizzee said.
Kizzee walked through her apartment showing the bugs, flies, spiders, filth on the walls, and a gaping hole under her window where she said rodents crawl in and out for the last three years.
“I wouldn’t recommend my worst enemy to stay in nothing like this,” Kizzee said. “When it floods, it comes all down here through the bathroom.”
Ladon Johnson who grew up at the complex said he is fighting to advocate for the residents living at the apartments. Johnson is also the founder of a community organization “Good Brothers and Sisters of Montgomery County.”
“I used to sleep on these floors, so this is what this is about, making sure the kids here are taken care of,” Johnson said.
Johnson looked at the conditions of several residents and even worked to get the Conroe mayor to tour the site.
Kizzee said she has waited too long to get any adequate help.
“I did a work order and they told me, ‘I’ll get to it, I’ll get to it’ " Kizzee said.
Kizzee said the hole under her bedroom window is a source for rodents, water and dirt to come in and out. She also said her apartment is infested with bugs.
“They’ve been knowing about this hole for three years now,” Kizzee said. “The lady in the front office told me to put my furniture on canned goods.”
Johnson wants resources and accountability at the living complex where he once grew up. Another resident, Johnette Davis, also invited KPRC 2 into her home.
“Up in the top you see mold,” Davis said. “I’m afraid to even cook in my kitchen.” Davis pointed to the back of her stove, which she said had mold all over the back wall and sides. She opened up her pantry and showed mold collecting at the top. Davis also showed her bathroom and room.
“My shoes and stuff, they’re all messed up,” Davis said.
She said she is not alone.
“There’s a lot of them here who are going to the same thing, but a lot of them scared to step out,” Davis said.
Davis, Kizzee and Johnson said it should not be this hard to get adequate living conditions for residents who have lived with them for years, they said.
“I’m not sure what they’re spending money on, but it’s not being spent here to make sure these kids are safe,” Johnson said.
Kizzee said the residents there want fewer words and more action.
“These conditions are not liveable. At all. They’re not,” she said.
KPRC 2 contacted the living complex and the mayor’s office asking about the conditions of the complex and what will be done for residents. KPRC 2 has yet to hear back.