Jackson Mayor John Horhn said he’s considering approaching the Legislature with proposals to protect tenants from negligent landlords. 

This comes after at least 20 families were forced to vacate their south Jackson apartment, where JXN Water had disconnected services due to the owner’s nonpayment of the property’s water bill. 

At the city’s request in recent weeks, a federal judge twice ordered the utility to restore the water. But Horhn said during a housing task force meeting Monday that Jackson would not ask for another extension, leaving the Wednesday shutoff in effect.

“The first question is: Do we want to look at approaching the Legislature about any sort of criminal charges that can be put together, that the Legislature would have to approve, to let folks know that we’re really serious about this?” Horhn said.

Jackson’s Housing Task Force was created this month in response to the ongoing battle over water services at Blossom Apartments and resident abandonment at Chapel Ridge Apartments in south Jackson. Its aim is to examine and improve policies and strengthen compliance to ensure safe conditions for renters.

It’s a tall order, considering the more than 7,000 registered rental properties and nearly 26,000 individual units across the city.

On Monday, nine of the 11 task force members discussed absent landlords and the millions in unpaid bills that complexes have accrued with JXN Water. The utility has publicized the names of 15 properties with the largest delinquencies. Many of the landlords in question live out of state.

“ It’s really hard to get to these people,” task force member Emma Redding said. “Most of them live in New York or California. The only thing they want is to get their rent money dropped in the bank every month, and they don’t care about the upkeep or anything.”

Jennifer Welch, whose Jackson-based company owns and manages properties in Jackson, Meridian and Hattiesburg, said that since the discontinuation of pandemic-era rental assistance, it’s been tougher for landlords to secure rent payments from tenants.

“If you don’t collect the rent, you’re not going to make the bank note and you’re not going to make the water payment,” Welch said. “I think we’re seeing some trickle down effects of that phenomenon, which was just a cause of COVID.”

This is exacerbated by JXN Water issuing larger water bills. Welch said she’s seen her charges double.

 ”I’ve got a bill that goes from $7,000 to $15,000, which is shocking. What do you do in that situation?” Welch said. “You owe a $15,000 bill and you cannot find the source of why your bills have doubled. I have found myself in that situation before.”

Earnest Ward, president of the Association of South Jackson neighborhoods, said he couldn’t understand how the water bills of various apartment complexes could reach over six figures.

“How did you all allow the water bill to get to $100,000, $200,000, $700,000?” Ward said. “We didn’t know. The only way we found out was when our associates brought the attention to the media.” 

Carla Dazet, a billing executive for JXN Water, was also in attendance, though not as the company’s designee to the task force. She said the private water utility is only concerned with water usage dating back to December 2022. Landlords and apartment owners have been difficult to reach, she said, causing JXN Water to disconnect services.

“We do everything we can prior to disconnections. I reach out. I do research. We call the offices. These property managers flip quickly,” Dazet said. “We don’t want to turn people off, but we don’t get a response until the water goes off. They don’t even respond to final notice letters.”

One of two attorneys present, Robert Ireland, said bad actors need to be held accountable for placing their tenants in a difficult situation. 

“We don’t have the power to control the resolution while the system is under a federal receiver, but there are folks that are not doing the right thing and are pocketing tenants’ money and not paying bills,” Ireland said. 

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate first ordered the water at Blossom Apartments to be restored on Aug. 8, calling it a “temporary humanitarian measure.”

“I think that the court has been very indulgent to us,” Horhn said. “They’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty in the 12 days that have been extended to the tenants.”

Water was set to be disconnected again at Blossom Apartments on Wednesday once the second order expires, and residents have until then to move out of the apartments. Earlier this month, Mississippi Home Corp. declared the complex to be unsafe, and residents have said they’ve dealt with poor living conditions, including mold, water leaks and dysfunctional appliances. 

Many rely on housing vouchers to cover a portion of their rent, meaning they don’t have the disposable income required to move on such a short notice. Stewpot Community Services is using a federal emergency housing grant to help residents with relocation costs. 

“We’ve got about $100,000 right now to assist the Blossom tenants,” Horhn said. “If they haven’t found a place to live within a few days, then we’re going to put them up in hotels … but we’re going to run out of that money if we don’t come up with a solution real soon.”

Another solution presented: creation of a rapid response team for when JXN Water terminates service at another housing complex. Region 6 Housing Authority stepped in to provide housing vouchers for residents at Blossom, many of whom are lower-income. Stewpot Community Services held a relocation assistance meeting Aug. 12, but Horhn said a majority of the 20 families who remain were still searching for housing. 

Members of the Housing Task Force are: 

• Brian Burns, staff attorney, Hinds County 
• Theresa Crisler, former staffing consultant
• Robert Ireland, attorney, Watkins & Eager
• Johnnie Patton, retired pharmacist
• Stacey Patrick, former resident of Blossom Apartments
• Emma Redding, retired Mississippi Division of Medicaid officer
• Rebekah Staples, policy consultant, Free State Strategies
• Stuart Tirey, government affairs director, Central Mississippi Realtors
• Earnest Ward, president of the Association of South Jackson Neighborhoods
• Jennifer Welch, property manager, VESICA Real Estate
• Pending JXN Water Designee