Remaining Creekside Apartment tenants having trouble finding housing
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - The few residents still living at a troubled metro apartment complex said they're struggling to find a new place to stay while the metro shelters are full and the waitlist for affordable housing continues to grow.
"We have nowhere to go," said Krystal Miller.
Miller has lived at the Creekside Apartments, near Southwest 59th and Agnew, for years. She said she's watched it fall into disarray. News 4 has reported on several issues, like horrific plumbing, no air conditioning in the hot summer months, trash piling up after dumpsters were taken away, and the city deeming them unsafe.
In April, an Oklahoma County Judge named Steven Martens the new receiver of the complex, after the previous owner, Jose Belman of Capitol Homes Investment LLC didn't make a payment in over a year.
In June, the receivership company told residents it was too unsafe and unsanitary to live at the Creekside Apartments. Martens brought in the OKC Homeless Alliance outreach team to provide options. That's when Miller met Martens.
“If we have like two weeks here, I think everybody would be out of here,” Crystal told Martens. “Everyone’s put their application in for their apartment, so they’re waiting for them.”
The newest development came just last week, when a judge stopped an eviction order.
Miller, her 4-month-old son, and several others still live at the complex.
"We still have electricity, we don't have water," said Miller. "They welded the water meter shut."
To flush toilets, shower, and cook the residents fill up several jugs of water where they can multiple times a day. Thankfully, Miller said she's able to buy her baby water with food stamps.
In-between fetching water, Miller told News 4 she looks for homes and jobs.
"I have a criminal past. My boyfriend has a criminal past. So people don't want to rent to us," said Miller. "We don't have the work underneath us to prove that we can work and provide and have three times the amount of the rent."
The OKC Homeless Alliance said in a case with multiple barriers, like Miller's, they can help but will require the assistance from multiple agencies. That means the fix will take time.
Meanwhile, metro shelters are full.
"We're short, you know, 600 shelter beds," Dan Straughan, Executive Director of the OKC Homeless Alliance told News 4 in June.
The Oklahoma City Housing Authority said nearly 30,000 families are on a waitlist for affordable housing.
"The need for affordable housing in Oklahoma City is immense," said Mark Gillett, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma City Housing Authority.
Until then, Miller has set up a GoFundMe to help find her and her child a safe place to live.