We have an update to a story we first brought you last month about people living in a Fourth Ward, Houston Housing Authority property, complaining about living in deplorable and unsafe conditions.
Now, Silgo Construction Incorporated, a subcontractor that says they were hired to work on that same property, is backing up the tenants' story.
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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 86-year-old woman speaks out about health, safety concerns at Houston Housing Authority property in Fourth Ward
They say not only were their workers exposed to danger at the Historic Oaks at Allen Parkway , but they’re owed millions of dollars by HHA’s main contractor, Franklin Construction Ltd. which is being paid about $50 million. Silgo was supposed to get $18 million.
Scope of work: Remodeling, not remediation
“We started here in May of 2023,” said Evelyn Chirinos, Project Manager of Silgo Construction. “A little bit of the scope of the work we were gonna do; exterior painting, repair siding as needed, and in the interior we were going to replace some cabinets, granite, drywall work, rough plumbing, rough electrical, window trim, nothing major, nothing but remodeling.”
Chirinos says workers got sick.
“We started facing mold issues inside the units, lots of molds inside the units in very poor conditions,” she said.
“And that wasn’t your job to clean up?” Deven Clarke asked.
“It was not in my job to clean up. It has to be removed by a remediation company,” Chirinos said.
Chirinos got a hold of us after seeing our story with an 86-year-old woman who was in a wheelchair, complaining about harsh conditions.
Living and working among fleas and wildlife
“She is definitely 100% right, the conditions that this property has are extremely unsafe,” Chirinos said. “All of the units were flea infested, all of our workers got bit by fleas.”
She adds there was no pest control.
“The amount of raccoons and cats in this property is a lot obviously... And there’s images of the raccoons,” she said. “When my guys, my window guys were installing windows, the raccoons would be on the ceiling, right there on the roof.”
Deven Clarke saw several raccoons himself while filming the story.
“They had to provide a safe environment in the unit and we didn’t have that,” Chirinos said. “we also didn’t have electricity in the units to work in.”
Chirinos says nothing was done about people who shouldn’t have been on the property to begin with.
“There were squatters inside the units…we got once chased out by a guy with a machete. HPD came and took him out, then they released him,” she said.
After asking for better conditions, Chirinos says they were terminated from the contract.
“Because we complained to HHA and Franklin Development, we were told that we were going by to be charged with liquidated damages, so we were technically told to shut up. From that incident right there probably a few hours later, if I’m not mistaken, that’s when we got the email that they wanted us out of the property,” she said. “We still have not been paid and we have not been reached out by no one to get paid.
Subcontractor alleges millions owed by HHA’s main contractor
How much money does Franklin Construction owe you?” Clarke asked.
“It’s in the millions,” Chirinos replied.
The HHA promising KPRC2 a statement soon.
We were able to get in touch with Franklin Construction and were told they do not give comments to the media, then hung up on Clarke.
