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Nearly 50 Harvey evacuees evicted, then told to return

The apartment's property management company called it a "sad situation" and said rent for the units had not been paid since last year.

Dozens of Hurricane Harvey evacuees were evicted from apartments Wednesday where they were given temporary housing after the flood.

However, just before 5 p.m. word came from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office, telling residents to stay.

The nearly 50 evacuees had been living in 12 units at the Spanish Village apartment complex off Griggs Road.

The apartment’s property management company called it a “sad situation” and said rent for the units had not been paid since last year and around $50,000 was still owed.

The company said the landlord was meeting with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office all day Wednesday in an attempt to resolve the problem.

Harris County Precinct 7 deputy constables went door-to-door watching residents as they packed their belongings and vacated the units.

"It seems like every time someone says they’re going to do something for you, they renege on it,” said Walter Hebert as he looks at a pile of his belongings stacked in the grass.

Hebert’s home was flooded during Harvey and he has not been able to make repairs so that it is inhabitable.

“Got close to two feet of water in it and I’m disabled so I couldn’t do anything about cleaning it out,” Hebert said. “I had to wait for Helping Hands to come out and gut it for me.”

Hebert, like most of the evacuees at Spanish Village, ended up at the Red Cross shelter at the Greenspoint Mall where case workers sought assistance from non-profit organizations to find semi-permanent housing for the evacuees. One of them was Sam Harris, CEO of the Berryman House.

Harris was able to get the residents into apartment units at Spanish Village but funding was exhausted in a few months. Harris says the money is available but red tape is keeping the victims from using it.

“If they are not part of their system of screening, they say well they don’t fit the criteria,” Harris said. “The money is here but it doesn’t match them. But these are victims of Harvey.”

The property management company for Spanish Village did not return calls prior to publication for specific details on the agreement it reached with the city.

Harris says he is hoping to find out how long residents can remain this time now that they have been allowed to return to the units.

“These are human beings,” Harris said. “You know, I see BARC and all kinds of agencies with dogs. Well these are humans and they’re not going to be on the street. God is going to find a way.”

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