Sweltering in place and no one to call: Council creates city ordinance to address landlord’s responsibility to fix air conditioning

by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

  It’s May 28th in Southwest Texas and upper 90  degree temperatures have started to set in.  A single mother of two teenages who will be referred to as Jill is  working hard just to make ends meet and finds her rental unit’s air conditioning is not working. So she called the landlord requesting the broken air conditioner be fixed. Days go by and more calls are made but temperatures inside the home reach into the 90’s. 

 Jill goes out and buys some fans to put in her home to try to mitigate the sweltering temperatures inside her home. The phone calls and emails continue to the landlord and days without air conditioning turn into weeks.  Jill, already dealing with PTSD and other health issues, starts getting sick; sick enough to go to the local emergency room and be admitted due to heat related illnesses. Jill ends up with hospital bills totalling over $18,000 dollars. Her electricity bills skyrocket to $700 from the constant use of fans.  

  Jill calls City of Uvalde Code Enforcement but is informed there is nothing they can do. Jill’s doctor files a complaint with the Uvalde Resiliency Center. 

 “I want these people who own this place to bring their family, their children and their pets and I want them to live like my son and my pets and I have lived since May 28th. I mean to tell you I am calling the police. I am so hot I haven’t even slept.  It’s too hot. I’ve had it,” Jill said.

  Finally on the Saturday morning of July 30th. 2024 , workers sent by Jill’s landlord bring a replacement Air Conditioning Unit but do not install it. According to Jill, they say they will be back after lunch but fail to show up.  A day or two later the air conditioner is installed. 

  While some facing this situation would just leave the apartment and likely forfeit their deposit at the current residence, some people like Jill do not have the money to move and pay another deposit at another department or rental.

The Council ultimately approves the measure but not without a discussion on the matter. 

According to Uvalde City Attorney Paul J. Tarski of the Tarski Law Firm, if the City creates this new ordinance, it would not be backed up by an existing state law.

“To be clear, there is no federal and there is no state statute with the exemption that Dallas and Houston have passed it, One of them is already being challenged in court,” Tarski said.

He continued, “If someone wants to attack it, in our opinion you’re going to lose.”

King stated that he has been getting calls since I’ve gone on council.  He said he’d usually tell them to call somebody. “There is nobody to call,” King said,

King stated within the last three months, he had received calls from two young ladies who didn’t have hot water and the landlord refused to fix it.

“For the health and safety of people, I think we can take that chance.” King said. 

“Why are we getting involved?” Councilman Hector R. Lueveno said. 

“Because there is no one to call. Literally no one to call.” King said.