As a Landlord, Alamo Heights School District is Failing Eviction 101

Dec. 17, 2020

Contact: Robert Elder, Communications Director | relder@trla.org, (512) 374-2764

SAN ANTONIO – The last remaining resident of the Desert Sands Apartments across from Alamo Heights High School last week sued to stop the school district from evicting her until it provides legally required relocation assistance. 

The Alamo Heights Independent School District bought the Desert Sands complex in March 2020 and plans to demolish it, most likely to build a parking lot for the high school. 

Selina Jones, who works from home in the $500-a-month Desert Sands apartment she has lived in since August 2017, sued the school district on Dec. 10 in the 438th District Court of Bexar County. Jones alleges that the Alamo Heights ISD is violating the state law that requires a political subdivision like a school district to pay relocation costs when it forces out tenants. 

Those costs can include moving expenses, paying some of the new rent, and the cost of finding a new place to live. 

Jones hasn’t been able to find an apartment that costs about the same and has been unable to save enough money for moving, a security deposit, and rent in a new place. 

The Alamo Heights ISD trustees authorized the district’s purchase of Desert Sands without providing any relocation services. The school district told tenants to pay their $500 monthly rent to Alamo Heights ISD – until June 30, when they had to move out. 

Under pressure from community advocates, the school district extended the leases until Sept. 30 but still refused to help residents find new housing or help pay relocation costs. On Aug. 24, Jones and another Desert Sands resident, Roy Hummel, asked the school district to provide the relocation services that state law requires. 

The school district refused. Hummel moved out Sept. 30. According to the suit, he felt unsafe in his apartment and wanted to avoid a court record of an eviction. 

The suit asks the court to stop Alamo Heights ISD from evicting her, which could damage her credit report and her ability to find another housing. Since she works from home, an eviction would hurt her ability to keep her job.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid provides free legal services to people who cannot afford an attorney in 68 southwestern counties, including the entire Texas-Mexico border. TRLA attorneys specialize in more than 45 areas of the law, including disaster assistance, family, employment, foreclosure, bankruptcy, landlord-tenant, housing, education, immigration, farmworker, and civil rights. Our hotline is open from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (CST) Monday – Friday: (956) 996-8752.