Trash, rodents, missing management: Go inside some of Shreveport's problem apartments

This is part one of a two-part series looking at apartment conditions in Shreveport.

Several apartment complexes in Shreveport are in terrible condition, with some saying owners have abandoned the residents.

The Louisiana Landlord Responsibility and Rights says landlords are responsible for giving tenants "a place in good, working and safe condition," however, four apartment communities in Shreveport fall far below that standard.

One of those complexes, Oaks Meadows, located at 1901 Centenary, is owned by OM APARTMENTS LLC, according to the Shreveport tax accessor records.

In February trash was overloading the apartment complex of Oaks Meadows on Centenary Blvd in the Highland neighborhood. It was outside doors, in the walkways, in the grass… everywhere. “Why is it that we have people in America, living like this?” asked Elaine Provost.

Provost was there with All Streets, All People (ASAP) to help with the community effort to help clean the apartment complex up. “It’s sad that we are in a situation like this,” Provost said, “We cannot stick our head in the sand anymore. We have to get up and do some.”

“They used to have dumpsters there, right by the mailbox,” said tenant Makayla Nelson who sat watching the clean-up efforts from the front door of the complex. She chose Oak Meadows for its affordability, her one-bedroom was $400 a month and was close to her children’s school.

Nelson knew where the office was located, but never saw anyone there.

In recent months the trash became worse and more people started moving out. Others stopped paying rent, but still lived there. For Nelson, she knew she would have to move soon, she just did not know where she was going to go, “That I haven’t figured out yet.”

Breka Peoples from Boots On The Ground, another coalition of neighbors and advocates, was there that day to help with the clean-up. The Shreveport activist is known for her use of the bullhorn, and that day she had it with her. “Oak Meadows come outside, pick up your trash,” she said trying to get residents to help with the clean-up effort.

Some residents did, but in the starkly quiet complex, among the remaining people, some were not residents,but squatters. Cleaning up was not a concern for them.

“It has been 25 days and counting, since we've been put on notice about the trash burden,” said Omari Ho-Sang from ASAP, “the property owners here at Oak Meadows have essentially abandoned the residents. Payments have stopped for tenants that are on Section Eight and the Louisiana Department of Health essentially considers this an unhealthy and hazardous place to live.”

When Caddo Parish Commissioner Victor Thomas first saw the situation, he knew it was unacceptable and something needed to be done. When he heard it would be a couple of weeks before the city could get a dumpster with crew, he knew he needed a faster solution. “I don't like to be presented with what I can't do, I like to figure out what we can do,” said Thomas.

He was able to secure a dumpster from Live Oak Environmental and knew the volunteers needed for the clean up had been secured.

Within a few hours the trash dumpster was full, and yet, there was still so much more trash yet to be cleared. By the end of the day, Live Oak Environmental brought two more large dumpsters.

“What is happening at Oak Meadows is injustice. Plain and simple,” said Ho-Sang, “It is a human rights violation and there is no way in a first world country that anybody regardless of their wealth, regardless of their socio-economic status, or their zip code should be living like this.”

Other Shreveport apartment complexes with terrible living conditions

Oak Meadows is not the only property in Shreveport with major issues. In May, three complexes faced utility shutoffs for non-payment. Those complexes were:

• The Pines Apartments, located at 8040 Line Avenue and owned by Amar Shreveport Holdings

• The Jolie of Shreveport, located at 1017 Quail Creek Road and owned by WKK Shreveport, LLC

• Villa Norte, located at 1620 Fullerton Street and owned by Amar Shreveport Holdings, LLC

The city notified residents of those complexes that water would be turned off due to landlord's nonpayment of utility services.

Most of the buildings of Pines Apartments were abandoned with broken windows, knocked down doors and in such deplorable condition that it would seem to have been abandoned.

But just a few feet away, past the several dozen car tires dumped in the parking lot, the tall grass and a pitched-up tent on the edge of the property, was another building with several tenants living in it.

Keith Miles and Mary Ann Murray lived across from each other with a small courtyard between them. They had both lived at the same another complex months before, but when they each had a terrifying night where someone tried to kick down their doors, management suggested they move to the Pines.

Almost immediately Miles realized this apartment would not be any better. He started photographing the consistent trash pile-ups and tried to deal with the rodents in his apartment.

Miles says he only saw management when they came to collect the rent checks.

“My hope is to get out of here and find a better place to live,” he said recently.

Murray lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her two daughters and three grandchildren. She used to live in the one next door but was told to move when mildew was discovered in her closet.

Both Miles and Murray discovered that day that the city was going to turn off the complex's water in just 5 days, a deadline that was extended to the end of the month. Neither knew exactly what to do next. Murray was going to call the number that the city offered. Miles talked about stock piling gallons of water in preparation.

“I’ve been praying,” Murray said as she sat on the chair outside her front door, “I would rather have a house.”

Issues ignored?

When Jordan Chevalier of Quality Landscape got a call from Victoria Harvey of The Jolie of Shreveport apartments in April, they discussed a recurring lawn service job which she thought might be another commercial opportunity for her company.

Chevalier went for an initial visit and realized this was not going to be ‘just’ a mowing job as described on the phone. There was at least 3 feet of grass and the situation would need a bush hog and a weed eater.

When Chevalier gave Jolie the estimate for services, she was talked down to offering just the bush hog, despite the obvious need for the other services. She started to think that the apartment complex must had been cited by the city and was just looking to avoid fines.

She hesitated to take the job, the company prided itself on good work, but decided to move forward.

At the initial visit, she had only seen the front, while working she saw the back of the building and was horrified at the condition, “We walked around back and saw sewage pouring out, it was the worst smell.”

Several buildings had been vandalized, doors were broken down, and trash was everywhere. Some people were openly smoking glass pipes in front of her and the crew.

There was large items, like a mattress outside in the grass, when she asked the company what they wanted her to do about it, she was told to leave it. “It was obvious these people did not care about the people living there,” Chevalier said.

To top it off the three days allotted for payment became a tedious back and forth exchange that eventually included the company no longer responding to her. Chevalier had to get her attorney to get involved and they only recently received a check, weeks overdue.

The sign-out front reads ‘Convenient and Affordable Apartment Living’, but the close to the abandoned complex had a few remaining tenants left by mid-May.

The multi-building complex had several areas with bright yellow caution tape strung around faulty structures. There were boarded-up windows, trash and unkept grass.

Truck driver Christopher Bledsoe paid about $600 a month for his one bedroom apartment that was approximately 600 square feet. He moved there in June of last year, in part because he had lived there 10 years before, “I never had a problem living here,” he said.

Nevertheless, that day found him with a U-Haul near his front door loading up his remaining belongings. “I heard it on the news that they get ready to shut these apartments down,” he said.

He had the money to pay the new deposit and the money for the first month rent. He was not given back his original deposit from Villa Norte. “If I need to move that's what I'm gonna do,” he said.

Another tenant, who wished not to be named, stated he was unsure where to go. He did not have the money to move and needed assistance, but what not sure where to turn.

Back at Oak Meadows, Peoples stated, “Our city failed us because they are not holding anyone accountable.”

“This is not the first time an apartment complex has been in this condition, there has to be a policy remedy,” said Ho-Sang, “What kind of policy will prevent this from happening in the future? What kind of policy to protect our most vulnerable tenants that don't have the resources or low wealth to keep them from living in squalor? Because, again, we don't believe that anybody deserves this.”

Neither does Councilwoman Tabitha Taylor, who has been working for years to hold the owners accountable for these apartment complexes. It’s been a long and tedious battle, one that she thinks will start to see justice as Amar will face criminal blight charges on May 28 in the Shreveport City Court.

The Times attempted to call the numbers available for these complexes and owners and did not receive a response.

Makenzie Boucher contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Go inside some of Shreveport's problem apartments