The plight of tenants at the Joie, Villa Norte and The Pines apartments facing water, electricity and gas cut-offs has been reported widely in the local media.
Mayor Arceneaux pushed back the City's water cutoff date until May 31 to allow the tenants in those apartments more time to find housing. He then contacted SWEPCO and CenterPoint to successfully negotiate a delay in their cut-offs until May 31.
Mayor Arceneaux also has Bonnie Moore, the Director of Community Development, assisting tenants in finding new housing. On KEEL radio today he announced several apartment complex managers had contacted his office advising of apartment availability.
As he stated on KEEL this morning, the tenants have grievances against the apartment owners who did not pay the utilities bills on behalf of the tenants. These apartments have a master meter for their complexes and their leases provide that the apartments are to pay these bills as a part of their landlord obligations to the tenants.
These apartments are not owned by the City of Shreveport but by private owners. Thus, it is not the obligation of the City to pay the utility bills. The actions by the City, SWEPCO and CenterPoint are commendable and collectively they provide some relief to those that must move to new housing.