HOUSTON – An Independence Heights homeowner is living in constant worry as a massive fallen tree leans dangerously close to her home. The tree, which fell back in 2022, still hasn’t been addressed, leaving Stephanie Gibson on edge.
Gibson, who has lived in her home for seven years, says the peaceful environment she once enjoyed has turned into a source of anxiety.
“I love it here. I never want to move anywhere else,” Gibson shared. But now, she says the house next door is in bad shape with the structure shifting, and she’s afraid it could collapse onto her house.
“I measure [the house] it keeps getting closer and closer to my house because of the tree,' Gibson said.
In June of last year, she filed a report with the City of Houston, warning about the tree’s danger. Soon after, the neighbors moved out, and a “For Sale” sign appeared. Despite reaching out to the realtor, Gibson didn’t get much help. She then spoke to a friend, also a realtor, and discovered something shocking: the house had been illegally occupied by squatters for 22 years.
“It turns out, they didn’t own the home,” Gibson said. “They were squatting there for like 22 years.”
Even with this revelation, no progress has been made on removing the tree. When KPRC 2’s Rilwan Balogun visited the property, he found a violation notice from the City of Houston’s Department of Neighborhoods Inspections, citing the need to remove the dangerous tree. But so far, nothing has been done.
Balogun reached out to Lynn Juravich, the realtor for the property. He acknowledged the issue and promised to contact the owner.
“It’s the owner’s responsibility to handle this,” Juravich said. “But I’ll go there tomorrow and see what’s going on.”
For Gibson, the waiting game is becoming unbearable.
“This is scary. My house is all I have,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to fix it if something happened to it.”
With hurricane season just around the corner, Gibson is urging the city to step in and resolve the issue before it’s too late.
“Every time there’s a storm or wind... it keeps moving this way,” she said. “I just want to make sure this is dealt with before hurricane season.”
The City of Houston’s Department of Neighborhoods said they’ve made contact with the realty group regarding the tree and issued a citation.
“The initial inspection for this case was performed on February 19, 2025. The code enforcement officer was able to perform their inspection from the street and sidewalk without needing a warrant and notified them of the violations on their property. In accordance with State law and City ordinance, the property owner was given two weeks to comply with their violation notice,” a spokesperson told KPRC 2. “Upon returning to the property and finding the violations present, the code enforcement officer issued a citation. When the inspector performed the initial inspection on the current case, they were able to see the violation from the right of way through the neighboring property. This was not visible during previous inspections. We have spoken to the realty company and explained the violation to them and will continue to work with them to address their violations or will seek options under state law to remove the violations and place a lien on the property to recover taxpayer funds spent.”
