Homeless Veteran Family Goes from Home to Hell Again

Homeless veteran placed in home teeming with code violations
KXAN News
By Kylie McGivern
Published: January 15, 2016

The Hill family says their landlord originally wanted to charge them nearly $350 for necessary plumbing repairs.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An August news conference marked a milestone in Mayor Steve Adler’s initiative to end veteran homelessness, announcing some of the first placements of homeless veterans into homes through the program. The Hill family was front and center, and remembers it well.

“Everybody has a big smile on their face and everybody’s happy at the moment, but once the cameras are off, it’s a whole different ball game,” says Tenisha Hill.

Tenisha and her husband Robert, a Navy veteran, moved into their new home with hopes of a fresh start.

“We were homeless with our kids, living in the car, I was 7-months pregnant at the time,” Tenisha recalls.

But since moving into their duplex, problems have continued to pop up. Efforts to get the toilet to drain properly opened up the Hill family’s eyes to a whole host of issues. After numerous calls and emails to the landlord, the Hills called Austin’s Code Department. The department confirmed with KXAN that a code officer responded to complaints on Thursday. The officer “noted multiple violations including fence issues, water leakage, water heating issues, light fixtures, lack of smoke detectors, and drainage issues.”
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