HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The sound of construction equipment at a house on the 6300 block of Costa Mesa is music to the ears of long-time neighbor Jethro Cooper.

The southwest Houston house sat empty for years, and a mix of teenagers after school, squatters, and a fire left the home as a community eyesore.

“Thank you for your effort in trying to bring it to their attention,” Cooper told ABC13 on Tuesday, about two weeks after Eyewitness News first noted problems with the house. “Now, since you brought it to their attention, they’re doing something about it.”

SEE MORE: Houston homes taken over by squatters leave owners, neighbors frustrated by legalities

However, Cooper knows one repair project on this house is insufficient to solve the more significant problem of homes in bad shape or occupied by squatters proliferating neighborhoods.

“We need help,” he said, noting that efforts to get the house torn down have gone nowhere, and chasing out drug users and others who may squat in the house offered temporary relief.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, promised, “We’re going to put this all together and fix it.”

Bettencourt is leading the Texas Senate’s initiative to improve the state’s squatter laws.

Generally speaking, squatter situations in Texas are considered civil matters, and it is challenging to get squatters out of a home without going through the tedious eviction process. In addition, Texas has strong property rights laws, so demolishing abandoned or dilapidated homes is also a prolonged problem.

Bettencourt said he has seen reports of these issues across the state, including the cases ABC13 highlighted over the past year.

“I’ve seen horror stories about squatting – some of your good work – all across the state. So, we’re bringing everyone in to talk about what we can do to stop squatting,” he said.

On Wednesday, Bettencourt is holding a hearing in Austin with an eye on passing bills next year to make it easier to push out squatters by increasing criminal penalties and giving law enforcement more tools.

“It’s just part of the times, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. It shouldn’t be tolerated. It’s illegal, and we’re going to make it a lot more illegal once we get bills passed in the next legislative session,” he said.

“I think anything to help the person who is the victim is needed,” Riana Sherman, one of the squatting victims ABC13 first profiled in 2023, said. “When our situation happened, we called this person, we called that person for help, and nobody was able to help because the person who was squatting had a lease that was not a real lease.”

Sherman and her family were under contract to buy a house in Houston’s Meyerland area but had to pull out because squatters moved in and stayed.

She said her children were traumatized, and she lost thousands of dollars in the process.

“Am I hopeful? I always try to see the good in situations. I always like to be hopeful,” Sherman said, reacting to the possibility of new laws passing.

The Texas Legislature will convene next January. ABC13 will keep you updated on whether the state’s squatter laws will be refreshed to address the problem plaguing homeowners.

For news updates, follow Miya Shay on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Woman claims trespassers moved into her Meyerland rental home and changed her locks

2024 Longhorn Elite Invite

• May 15-18, 2024
• LCM (50 meters)
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, TX
• Psych Sheets

The 2024 Longhorn Elite Invite will be held this weekend at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center at the University of Texas in Austin. The three-day meet will feature all Olympic events in its schedule. Among the list of athletes on the psych sheets includes Nic Fink who will swim both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. Carson Foster will also be in attendance and is entered in four events, the 200 free, 400 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM.

Fink enters the meet and is coming off a World title in the 100 breaststroke as he won the event at the 2024 World Championships in Doha in February. He also won bronze in the 50 breast and 200 breast. Fink has been a core member of the US breaststroke group at the international level having qualified for Tokyo in 2021 and swimming at every world championship since as well.

The breaststroke events also feature numerous other big names such as Jake Foster, who also represented the US at 2024 Worlds finishing 4th in the 200 breast and 9th in the 100. Will Licon is also in the breaststroke events and looks to qualify for the Paris Olympics later this summer after finishing 3rd in the 200 breast at the 2020 Wave II Olympic Trials.

Jake’s older brother Carson Foster also highlights the psych sheets and is the top seed in the 400 free and 400 IM and the #2 seed in the 200 free behind NCAA Champion Luke Hobson and the #2 seed in the 200 IM behind Shaine Casas. Carson will look to qualify for his first Olympic team after finishing 3rd in the 400 IM and 4th in the 200 IM at 2020 Wave II Trials.

With the arrival of Bob Bowman as head coach, notable names absent from the meet include Regan Smith, Hubert Kos, and Leon Marchand. Bowman said last month that he would be splitting time between Tempe and Austin. 

Highlighting the women’s side of the meet includes Olympic Gold medalist Lydia Jacoby who is entered in the 100 breast, 200 breast, and 50 freestyle. German Olympian and Texas training partner Anna Elendt is also entered in the meet and is the #2 seed behind Jacoby in both breaststroke events.

2020 US Tokyo Olympian in the 1500 freestyle Erica Sullivan will take on a range of freestyle events as she is in the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, and 1500 free. Also highlighting the mid/distance free events are Jillian Cox and Erin Gemmell. Both swimmers represented the US last summer at the 2023 World Championships.

2024 Worlds bronze medalist in the 50 free Kasia Wasick is also entered on the psych sheets and is the top seed in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Wasick represents Poland.

Numerous club swimmers will also be in attendance. The boys side is highlighted by 17 year old Maximus Williamson while the girls side is highlighted by Maggie Wanezek who will travel to the meet from Wisconsin.

Brian Lerma-Alfaro, a senior at Lehman High School in Hays County, started his Free Application for Federal Student Aid with paper forms in December.

After months of trying to submit the paper forms, he opened an online application in March.

Two weeks from graduating from high school, he’s still wading through technical difficulties.

“Literally, the only thing I need is a signature from my mom,” Lerma-Alfaro said. “When I go into her account, my form doesn’t pop up.”

Lerma-Alfaro received his acceptance to the University of Texas in February, where he wants to study data science and statistics. But he needs his aid package from the university — which requires the FAFSA form — to receive other scholarships.

He spent two hours in his counselor’s office Monday, trying to work through the form’s technical issue. 

“It’s been a huge pain in the butt,” Lerma-Alfaro said.

Delays in the FAFSA process have plunged what’s already a stressful and cumbersome matter for high school seniors into a plague of uncertainty.

Weeks after the usual May 1 college decision deadline, many seniors are still waiting on aid information that’s crucial to making a decision.

A lot of things went wrong this year to create the uncertainty, said Shareea Woods, director of the Texas College Access Network. The organization is meant to improve students’ ability to attend college.

The U.S. Department of Education overhauled the entire system to one that’s meant to be a more streamlined, easier process.

However, glitches pushed back the opening of the FAFSA application process from the typical October date to January. The federal department also didn’t start processing applications until March.

Processing turnaround times are down to one to three days now, according to the federal department.

Burden on colleges

Cindy Melendez, the vice president of student success at Concordia University Texas in Northwest Austin, said universities’ largest challenge with sending out financial aid packages has been waiting on data from the U.S. Department of Education.

“We’re used to these packages going out in February,” Melendez said. “So from February to May, our staff has been really working hard to figure out how we prepare for this time when we have to condense packaging into a much shorter time frame than usual.”

For students with multiple acceptances trying to decide which college will give them the most educational bang for their buck, the delays are causing stress.

“There has been some understanding that our students need more time, especially our students that are coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds,” Woods said. “We’ve heard some stories of parents putting in deposits at multiple institutions so they can hedge their bet.”

Melendez said the university sent out the first round of aid packages last week. Because Concordia works so closely with families, the deadlines are very flexible, and university staffers have been working with applicants one on one to offer support and guidance.

The University of Texas included an option for students to extend their deadline to June 1. Miguel Wasielewski, vice provost of admissions, said about 1,000 students opted for more time, while about 9,000 committed to the university without knowing their financial aid packages. The office has been in contact with all 1,000 students, he said.

“In this case, it’s all about just making sure that we advocate wherever possible to get them the resources that they need, while also monitoring where they are in the process,” Wasielewski said.

To date, the university hasn’t noticed differences in the makeup of next year’s class compared with previous years because of the FAFSA delays, he said.

Brian Dixon, vice provost for enrollment management, said UT plans to start sending out packages this week. Earlier in the process, the admissions team identified some particularly strong candidates that it anticipated would need financial aid, something typically evaluated from FAFSA data, and offered some early tuition guarantees.

“The institution took that financial risk to try to provide the assurance for those students, and that has been highly effective,” Dixon said. “About 4 out of 5 students who received those early guarantees have taken us up on that offer.”

Cost of delays

Even if colleges let students push back their decision, the delays still cost them, Woods said.

A postponed college acceptance means students could miss out on summer boot camps that colleges offer for some intensive programs or might delay housing choices, she said.

“Our concern is some students may be so turned off by this process they may choose not to enroll,” Woods said.

For students who are still waiting, they should keep an eye on their inboxes and stay in communication with the colleges they’d like to attend, she said.

Dixon still thinks there will be problems to work out next year. For instance, students of parents without a Social Security number initially could not complete the form this year.

Nationwide, fewer students have completed the FAFSA this year compared with last year.

Only 50.4% of Texas high school seniors had completed the FAFSA by May 3, according to the federal Education Department.

By this time last year, 70% of students had completed the application, according to the Texas College Access Network. Even in 2021, which was a record low year because of the pandemic, 58% of Texas seniors filled out the application.

Dixon expects more students will still fill out the form once their peers start receiving letters.

Lerma-Alfaro is the only one among his group of friends left still awaiting an aid package, he said.

With graduation ahead, he’s been working to keep his grades up, look for jobs and spend time with his friends. The balance is already difficult, and he’s ready to get his college plans set in stone.

“I don’t like saving things until the last day,” Lerma-Alfaro said.

The Education Department has updates at studentaid.gov.