Five days into a power outage, families at the Falls of West Point Apartments in Sharpstown are still without electricity as temperatures hover near 100 degrees. Houston firefighters shut down a portion of Parkfront Drive on Monday, bringing in METRO buses as makeshift cooling stations and even hosing down a section of pavement to create a makeshift water park for the complex's children.
A Mother of Five Describes Sweat, Red Faces, and a Thawed-Out Freezer
Roughly a quarter of the complex has been without power since Thursday morning, according to reporting by ABC13 Houston. Sonya Ixtos, who is raising five children in the complex, told the station her kids sweat, their faces turn red, and even a shower does little to cool them down. Her deep freezer has thawed out entirely, and reporter Luke Jones documented the family's ordeal for the outlet.
Neighbors described similarly rough conditions. Jairo Martinez said children in the complex cry all night and all day because of the heat, and described the apartments as very hot and unsuitable for sleeping. Andres Olmedo said the temperature continues to hover around 100 degrees and that he ended up purchasing a generator just to power fans for himself and his children.
Firefighters Step In With Water and Cooling Buses
Houston Fire Department crews treated two people for heat exhaustion at the complex, per HFD. HFD Deputy Chief Mohammad Koochack said helping somebody is the part of the job that feeds the soul, as crews worked to keep residents cool while the outage dragged on.
CenterPoint crews responded to the apartment complex three times over the past week, per CenterPoint, but the utility determined its own equipment had no issues. Per CenterPoint, property owners need to make repairs before power can be restored — a distinction rooted in CenterPoint Energy service standards, which hold that electrical risers, meter boxes, weatherheads, and main distribution panels are customer-owned equipment. Under those standards, the utility's maintenance responsibility ends at the point of delivery, meaning a licensed electrician must fix damaged private infrastructure before power can be reconnected.
Houston firefighters reached apartment managers late Monday, and per firefighters, the managers said a piece of electrical equipment would be replaced Tuesday morning. ABC13 said it was unable to reach property managers directly on the Labor Day holiday.
What Texas and Houston Law Say About Landlord Duty to Repair
Texas landlords are legally obligated to make a diligent effort to repair conditions that materially affect a tenant's physical health or safety once notice is given and rent is current, under Section 92.052 of the Texas Property Code, according to the Texas State Law Library. State law also presumes seven days is a reasonable repair window once written notice is received; after that, tenants may seek court penalties of one month's rent plus $500 or terminate their lease without penalty under Section 92.056.
Houston's own rules have also tightened this year. The Houston City Council passed a Right to A/C ordinance on August 19, amending Chapter 10 of the city code to require operable air conditioning in all habitable rental spaces and closing a 2011 loophole that had let landlords skip AC if window screens were installed. Property owners now have 120 days from passage to comply before facing city citations.
The city also created a High-Risk Apartment Inspection Program in May, letting inspectors examine multi-family properties that rack up 10 or more 311 complaints or citations within six months, with fines running between $250 and $2,000 per violation, according to KHOU 11. Whether that framework applies to Falls of West Point remains an open question.
Sharpstown's Renters Face Steep Odds During Outages
The stakes are especially high in Sharpstown, where more than 80 percent of residents rent their homes and the neighborhood's average individual income is roughly $22,466, according to City of Houston and U.S. Census data. That leaves many families with little ability to buy a generator or book a hotel room while repairs drag on.
Across the Houston metro area, an estimated 20,400 renter households lack functioning air conditioning, based on 2023 U.S. Census Bureau American Housing Survey data cited in Houston City Council records. Harris County Public Health recorded more than 7,600 heat-related illnesses countywide between 2019 and 2023, with officials warning that homes without air conditioning sharply raise the risk of heat stroke.
This is not an isolated case. Just a day earlier, residents at the Westbury Square Townhomes in Southwest Houston spent nearly 40 hours without power in 93-degree heat after a similar dispute over customer-owned equipment. Sharpstown has also seen cooling failures strain public facilities this summer, including broken AC units at Pat Neff Elementary that caused student illness and early dismissals.
