BATON ROUGE — A woman is forced out of her rental home, but she tells 2 On Your Side that her landlord hasn’t fixed any of the property’s issues.
That’s why Takisha Houston withheld her rent. She says she is disgusted, aggravated and frustrated with the whole situation. On Thursday, she appeared before the justice of the peace for an eviction hearing. She now has until September 5 to leave or the deportation could show up on her record.
“I have to find another place to move to. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, I just have to figure it out,” Houston said.
Houston and her four children live in a house on Atlanta Avenue and say she withheld rent because of their living conditions.
“I live with mold and mildew, water coming out of the walls,” she said.
Houston recently lost her job and received $7,600 through East Baton Rouge’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Funds took care of her back and provided her owner with a three-month advance.
Since receiving the rent, Houston says his living situation has declined.
“You collected this money and you never came to fix anything,” she said.
Water seeps behind her kitchen cabinets and mold grows. She also has electrical problems.
“I’m in half a house…I have to play with an outlet in my daughter’s room to turn on a light in my room,” Houston said.
On Thursday, 2 On Your Side spoke with owner Carey Ford. He said the house was in great condition when Houston moved in, but has deteriorated. Ford also says it plans to repair the property once the tenant vacates.
Houston wants to know where he went and why he didn’t respond to his maintenance requests.
“He never came back,” she said. “I called several times, I sent texts, I left voicemails.”
Houston is about to leave. This is another tenant facing eviction and looking for a new home.
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