Third Ward residents with water issues since winter storm and on verge of eviction, receive help
HOUSTON - For almost two months after the freeze, several Third Ward families didn’t have running water. Today, their water pressure remains low. On Tuesday, they were a day away from being evicted until local officials stepped in to help.
The last several months have been difficult for Shannon Sublett and her family as they struggled financially to pay rent and make ends meet.
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"I don't make a lot of money. I make just enough to get by so if any one thing happens, it can put me in a tailspin. I didn't have a plan B so I didn't know," said Sublett.
Shannon works as the director of Golden Age Hobby House. Since March of last year, the senior daycare facility hasn’t been open because of COVID.
In February, the freeze caused the pipes beneath Sublett's Third Ward home to burst, destroying the back half of her house.
"The pipes broke underneath the tub, and it was spewing water onto the closet that backs up to it so all my clothes and my shoes, and everything that I had in the closet got mildewed and black molded," Sublett said.
For the next 45 days after the pipes burst, Sublett and dozens of her neighbors didn’t have running water.
"My son and my cousin were going underneath the house to the broken pipes and letting the water drip into the buckets," Sublett said.
The landlord was also affected and struggled to pay his mortgage and insurance.
On Wednesday, Sublett would’ve been evicted. But just hours before her life was about to change drastically, Houston City Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabbaz and the Houston Urban League stepped in to help by delivering a check worth more than $15,000 to help the landlord and tenants from losing their homes.
"I feel like I can breathe and maybe I can sleep in in the morning," Sublett said.
Councilmember Shabazz said she’s also been working with other non-profit, charitable organizations that could provide additional relief.