Rain leads to crisis for woman fighting housing authority over ‘misrepresented’ roof

Thursday’s rains caused the ceiling to nearly collapse in the home of a Las Cruces woman who has been fighting the state’s housing authorities for more than a year over who is responsible for repairing damage caused by the condition of the roof.

Sylvia Ramirez bought the home from Housing Enterprises, Inc., a part of the state’s housing authorities, which the attorney general says “misrepresented” the condition of the roof when selling the home.

A large bubble began forming in the ceiling of the home Thursday during a rain storm. The ceiling is literally peeling off the roof, said Ramirez, who is raising her granddaughter alone on a $22,000-a-year salary. Carpet in the home is almost all soaked. So are many of the walls.

The situation has been worsening for months as Ramirez has sought help. Ramirez’s granddaughter has asthma, and the carpets are molding.

The attorney general’s office has said HEI “misrepresented” to her the condition of the roof when she purchased the home in 2004. The office said several months ago that HEI or the Region VII Housing Authority, based in Las Cruces, “should be required to repair the roof.”

Then-HEI Director Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos responded at the time that it was HEI who got the raw deal, and said Ramirez could sue if she wanted to try to force the housing authorities to pay.

HEI bought the home from Ramirez’s ex-husband to sell it to Ramirez. An inspector paid by HEI checked the roof and said it was good for seven more years.

Seven months later, the roof started leaking. Ramirez called then-Region VII Housing Authority Director Emma Johnson Ortiz because she thought the home came with a one-year warranty. She claims Ortiz at first reminded her of the one-year warranty, and when Ramirez told her she purchased the home seven months before, Ortiz told her the warranty only applied to new homes.

An inspector Ramirez hired found the original roof, built in 1981, under gravel. Boards were dry and split, allowing water to run through large cracks into the home.

Ramirez’s crisis comes at a time of scandal for the housing authorities. Ortiz left earlier this year, having been chased out by Gallegos and a Region VII board that backed him. Gallegos resigned as director of the Region III Housing Authority in Albuquerque earlier this week after damning reports from the governor’s office and state investment council.

Perhaps most concerning is that Region III recently defaulted on some $5 million in bonds it owes the state. In addition, the authority in Las Cruces has done little about the housing problem while building up a debt of several hundred thousand dollars.

It isn’t clear if Gallegos also resigned as director of HEI this week. I have a call in to the governor’s office.

Gallegos could not be reached for comment.

Because she can’t afford to pay an attorney to sue Gallegos and the housing authority organizations, Ramirez sought the help several months ago of New Mexico Legal Aid, which provides civil legal services to the poor. But the group’s executive director, Fernando Macias, was also a board member of the Region VII Housing Authority until June, when his term expired.

Ramirez said before Macias’ term on the board ended, a legal aid attorney told her she would need to sign some sort of conflict-of-interest waiver so the group could take her case, and said he would call her back. She said she’s still waiting.

“They’re supposed to be helping me,” Ramirez said.

Frances Williams, the Region VII board member who brought to light many of the problems with the housing authorities, said she has been on the phone for hours seeking help for Ramirez. She has offered to put Ramirez and her granddaughter up in a hotel for now.

It’s still raining in Las Cruces. The chance of continuing rain is good for at least the next several days.

“She needs a fix today,” Williams said. “And she doesn’t have money for a lawyer.”