This story was originally produced by Oklahoma Watch, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
A father and son from Texas are buying up restricted housing meant for low-income Oklahoma tenants. Then they’re booting the tenants out.
When 36-year-old Sylvia Aguilar moved to Gable Hills Apartments in 2022, she couldn’t have been more relieved. With the help of an affordable housing voucher, she was finally out of the domestic violence shelter she’d been living in with River, her young son. In the complex near Sand Springs, Aguilar quickly bonded with her neighbors.
“There’s so many people that I love out here,” Aguilar said. “We’ve been out here for three years and I’ve become very close to some of these people.”
She settled in, working part-time as a home health aide to an elderly woman. River, who needs extra attention due to health issues, started kindergarten at a local elementary school. They both got into counseling.
But Aguilar’s life took a turn when she came home to find a poorly written letter on her door that said she had 60 days to find a new home. The letter claimed Aguilar was not being evicted, but instead was the victim of an unfortunate matter out of the hands of the Texas-based corporation that bought the apartments in 2024.
“We, agent for the owners, regret to inform your household that due to rental increases not being accepted your lease must terminate,” the letter said. “The unit you reside in has a rent amount of $1,085 which we cannot charge without the agency that offers rental assistance to you approves the increase.”