An apartment building on Gaston that neighbors claimed was being used as a residential hotel lost its certificate of occupancy this week. But the case is likely to continue through lawsuits, and the apartments are not expected to close any time soon.
Neighbors complained to the Dallas Board of Adjustments that the owner of the building at 4931 Gaston violates zoning laws. It is zoned as multifamily, but neighbors say owner Leroy Billingsley assigns rooms to tenants, who have locks on their bedroom doors but share kitchens and bathrooms. That results in as many as 64 people living in the 24-unit complex at once.
Rent for the rooms reportedly is $104 a week.
If that’s true, then when the complex is at capacity with 64, Billingsley is taking $6,656 a week from the poorest of our neighbors. He would have to charge over $1,100 a month for each of the 24 units to make that much otherwise.
For about $160 less than that, you could get a 900-square-foot apartment in the Wilson Building downtown. A one-bedroom apartment in Old East Dallas can be had for less than $500 a month.
Clearly, the rent is too damn high.
