Texas Apartments Owned By State Congressman Deemed Substandard

Houston, TX (AHN) - Texas Rep. Hubert Vo's apartments violate state standards on health and the building code, according to local reports. The Houston Chronicle further notes that the building's problems include exposed electrical wires, rotting wood, broken windows and other probable infractions of the city's minimum benchmarks for occupied buildings.

The Chronicle story was based on accounts of city inspectors who had called Vo's attention to the substandard state of his rental units. Vo has four apartment complexes in Houston, namely: the Wall Street Square Apartments, Courtyard Apartments, Northpoint Apartments and the Capewood Apartments.

Inspectors found a wide range of offenses ranging from open electrical boxes, loose wiring and insufficient balcony guards which merit misdemeanor violations, to overflowing toilets, damaged parking lots and unsanitary swimming pools, which are liable to criminal fines.

The Vietnam-born congressman admitted his shortcomings as a landlord and promised to improve the living conditions in his rental apartments. Vo told the Houston Chronicle, "It's not my intention to have those apartments like that... I don't want to blame anybody. I take full responsibility." Before he dabbled into politics, the Vietnamese migrant had a computing business which was the source of his wealth.

But few of his tenants were aware Vo was their landlord.

A year ago, Houston Councilwoman Carol Alvarado was pushing to demolish the dilapidated Thai Xuan Village near the Hobby Airport, occupied by 1,400 residents, majority of them Vietnamese immigrants. Neighboring communities complained the eyesore complex pulled down property values in the area. Mayor Bill White called on Vo to intervene and he, together with the village's lawyer, Tammy Tran, were able to turn around and start the ball rolling to improve the village's condition.