SAN ANTONIO — When Peair Richardson taped a list of demands on the Seven Oaks Apartments leasing office doors, he had dozens of residents behind him. The list included $6,000 to relocate, all maintenance issues be fixed and that no tenant be evicted before December 23 of this year. 

This is in response to the notice to vacate by the end of July that every tenant received. Richardson has lived at Seven Oaks for nine months, and one thing that he has noticed is that he and his fellow neighbors have been living in unhealthy conditions 

“Two-and-a-half months, three months ago, I ran out of hot water, did my work order and everything. I went to ask about it and I was pretty much met attitude and was kicked out of the office,” Richardson says. “All of my follow ups, there’s never a record of whatever work order I put in.” 

Richardson’s central air doesn’t work so his windows are open at all times. One of the windows is propped open with a box fan, but he says it still isn’t enough to cool him off through these triple-digit weather days. 

He pulled out his phone to show one of his neighbors work orders to fix their door and the photo indicted the job wasn’t complete despite the email saying it was.

He says the tenants will get a message that the work order was completed, even though it wasn’t.

“This is fraudulent work orders online...they do not care,” Richardson said as the sweat rolled down his face. 

Richardson says his neighbors are living in even worse conditions, like Valerie Sanchez who shared a video with Spectrum News 1 of what her kitchen looks like. Her kitchen had water coming from the ceiling and she believes it’s from her neighbors above her.

In the video, her grandchild can be heard in the background. 

“I’ll say that’s pretty bad, I’ll say that’s a problem,” the kid said. 

She said the water falls like that all day, everyday. 

Another resident pulled out her phone to show photos how she found cats in her wall. She said if she had not found them, they would’ve died in the walls.

Sanchez had her hands over mouth in disbelief when she saw those photos. Recently, the residents formed a union, and Richardson is the president. 

When Spectrum News 1 reached out to management about the tenants, they referred us to Achieve Properties, which took over Seven Oaks about a year ago. Vice President Daniel Simpson said that property was in bad shape when they purchased it and that Achieve has made every effort to work with tenants to help them into programs and assist them with rent. 

Richardson says that hasn’t happened and that all of the help has been from Texas Organizing Project (TOP.)

“This subpar standard of living has got to stop,” a TOP organizer shouted. 

Richardson appreciates the support. 

“To have this organization kind of step in and be like ‘Hey, we’ll support you,’ it feels good,” Richardson said. 

Richardson believes management leaving the units filled with mold and unfixed issues is another way of pushing tenants out. But most of the tenants can’t afford to relocate, and that July 31 deadline is not enough time for them. 

“It just looks like a very calculated effort to get us out, make everyone miserable, they’ll leave. And its work[ing] in a lot of cases, there’s a lot of empty units,” Richardson said. 

Achieve says that the evictions were because of non-payment, but Richardson says they are unjust. The city of San Antonio hosted a resource fair at a nearby library and many Seven Oaks tenants attended to see what kind of help they qualify for. 

The tenants also had a barbecue nearby their laundry area that doesn’t have working machines. It was to figure out what their next steps are and to build unity. 

“I look out into this community, I don’t just see my neighbors, I see my mom, I see my dad, I see my brother, I see my aunts and uncles. We are not having a cookout because we don’t know each other,” Richardson said. “We are having a cookout because that’s what we do, that’s how we maintain in this hell.”