Residents who lived at the Highland Hills apartments damaged in an explosion reported by the Dallas Express last week were moved to a new hotel on Thursday, Oct. 7.
While repair is ongoing at the damaged apartment complex, the residents were staying in a hotel. However, as Texas-OU weekend approached, the residents had to leave their hotel rooms as they were already booked for the event. The city moved the residents to the Hilton Anatole hotel, where they will stay for the next few days.
The city secured about eighty rooms in the Hilton Anatole hotel and transferred more than a hundred residents there. City officials are not sure how long the arrangement will last. “Right now, we’re looking at anywhere from three to five days,” councilman Tennell Atkins, who represented the area, said.
In an interview with FOX4, Atkins said that one apartment building was destroyed while two sustained significant damage that needs to be repaired before the residents can move back to their homes. City officials also say that gas and hot water are being restored to the existing units.
Per city officials, the Dallas Housing Authority is granting residents vouchers to move into new housing on a case-by-case basis.
Meanwhile, some residents are exhausted by the hassle of shuttling between hotels and the uncertainty of the future.
Ashley King and her family are weighed down by the stress. However, she says the provision of food at Bon Air Baptist Church courtesy of the North Texas Food Bank, the Mark Cuban Heroes Center, and their partners has helped her family live by. “It helps because I have children. Last night they had to eat dollar cup noodles because I didn’t have any money for food, and the last meal is at 5, so y’all giving us food boxes is really helping my kids be able to eat,” she said. “As long as my kids eat, I’ll go to bed hungry, I don’t have a problem with that.”