SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio woman and her two children are living in an apartment with feces all over the floor thanks to a massive plumbing problem. She says the apartment complex isn't stepping up, but staff there says they're working on the problem.
Victoria Bethune lives with her two children, a 10-year-old son and another 4-year-old son who has autism. She says raw sewage has been flowing out of her toilet and bathtub for months.
"It was just fresh water coming through my toilet on the bottom of the floor," Victoria Bethune.
That was in mid-November. But then, later in the month, "water started backing up in my dishwasher—dirty water. Over time, the water started coming out more and more."
Victoria says she came home and her saturated situation turned into a sewage situation.
"My younger son likes to take baths, so we were actually coming home to put him in the bathtub and all his toys were in there and all the feces was there," she said.
What used to be her bedroom now has dirty toilet water and tub water with residue of raw sewage covering its floor. Its also led to more bugs crawling on her walls. What we couldn't show you is the toilet overflowing with raw sewage, the bathtub close to the rim full of feces and the overwhelming stench.
Bethune won't even turn on the kitchen sink or run the dishwasher, and says her refrigerator has been broken since June.
"I haven't had a decent meal with my kids since July 4th."
Staff at the complex's leasing office insisted they are addressing the sewage situation and that they've signed agreements with Roto Rooter, who was there working on the problem, and they hope to have it fixed as possible. The leasing office was closed on Tuesday, but a citation was the City of San Antonio was taped to the window for failure to repair the sewage leak in that apartment.
Bethune said the rental office offered to forgive about $600 of a past-due balance and provided her with a deposit of a few hundred dollars to just move out. But she says that isn't possible right now without a job.
"I don't have anybody to watch my child," she said. "It's hard to find somebody to watch someone with autism."
We reached out to HUD and they referred us to Neighborhood and Housing Services (NHSD), who said any renter needing advice or assistance can call them at (210)207-5910. They can also go the San Antonio fair housing webpage where they can find information about funding, mediation with landlords and many other topics.
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