Latrice Tucker remembers what home was like at her independent living community.
The 67-year-old recalled a well-kept courtyard at 8000 Calmont Ave. A cafeteria downstairs for residents. Activities such as bingo, poker and margarita nights.
“There wasn’t anything that wasn’t taken care of,” Tucker said.
Five years later, she is one of dozens of older adults at Manor Independent Living — located in the historically underserved Las Vegas Trail neighborhood — living in unsanitary conditions.
When the Fort Worth Report conducted a site visit Aug. 19, full trash bags were piled up in rooms on the first floor. Water leaked from the ceiling. And several common areas such as the dining and medical rooms remained unused.
This month, the North Texas Fair Housing Center began working with tenants due to the building’s conditions and the consequences of months of unpaid utilities.
An Aug. 3 email sent by the former property manager to staff at Endeavor Group Real Estate — the property’s owner — and obtained by the Report confirmed the overdue bills. The email listed outstanding gas, electric and water balances of about $1,255, $16,989 and $9,605, respectively.
The property was acquired and renamed by EGRE in May 2024. Manor was intended to serve older adults who do not qualify for subsidized housing but cannot afford expensive retirement communities, according to a March 2025 news release.
The Fort Worth Report contacted EGRE for comment via email but did not receive a response. The company does not have a phone number listed on its website.
For tenants, a variety of challenges may prevent them from moving elsewhere, said Aaron Renaud, fair housing manager for the North Texas Fair Housing Center. Many have physical disabilities or live on a fixed income. Some lack transportation options. The process of finding somewhere new that is both affordable and offers the amenities they need can also be lengthy.
The slogan “Transforming spaces, enriching lives” greets visitors to EGRE’s website, and the company advertises itself as providing “affordable housing through adaptive re-use.” Manor Independent Living was the Austin company’s first venture into senior housing.
‘It’s like a roach den’
Since January, balances of over $5,000 for trash pickup services at Manor Independent Living went unpaid. The result has been an accumulation of trash at the property.
Resident Scott Holcomb, 66, shows the state of the overflowing dumpsters at Manor Independent Living on Aug. 19, 2026. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Dumpsters outside the building were filled to the brim at the time of the Report’s visit, and overflow trash piled up in the surrounding area. With no space left, full trash bags were left inside empty units on the first floor.
Flies swarmed in the rooms, which reeked from the garbage.
“If you walk down to that hallway, you’re going to smell it,” 68-year-old resident Hugh Pitts said.
Trash fills a room at Manor Independent Living on Aug. 19, 2026, near the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood in Fort Worth. According to an email obtained by the Fort Worth Report, the dumpsters have not been emptied in over a month, leaving residents to collect trash in two rooms. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Residents also complained about pests, including cockroaches.
“I’m constantly taking my shoe off and hitting them,” Tucker said. “It’s like a roach den.”
One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said her bedbug bites are so severe that the itching keeps her up at night.
A 69-year-old woman who moved into Manor Independent Living six months ago shows the bug bites on her body on Aug. 19, 2026. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Rob Walston, an 83-year-old Marine Corps veteran, has his housing covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. A few days after moving in four months ago, his apartment flooded, he said. He had to throw out his clothing and replace it, as well as toss some of his still-packed boxes that were soaking wet.
Resident Rob Walston, 83, shares his experience at Manor Independent Living on Aug. 19, 2026. A few days after moving in, Walston’s apartment flooded. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Veteran Bruce Walton, whose rent is also covered by the VA, has a bucket outside his apartment door for a leak that has been ongoing since he moved in. When it fills, he takes it into his apartment to empty and then replaces it.
Throughout the building, signs of leaks and water damage were visible. On the second floor, buckets caught dripping water. One ceiling tile had black mold and had been pulled aside to allow the water to drip into the bucket.
The email from the former property manager noted multiple leaks on the first floor “due to clogged and broken pipes.” Maintenance then unclogged the pipes, but “wastewater came up through the floors and shower drains in several units,” the email read.
The building’s elevators were also cited as a concern.
One elevator broke down and trapped a custodian inside, Renaud said. The fire department came and rescued them.
Another elevator had been “out of commission,” according to the property manager’s email. Maintenance reset that elevator, and it began to work again.
“We don’t really know how long that’s going to last, given that it was out of order for quite some time,” Renaud noted, while also expressing concern for mobility-challenged residents on the upstairs floors.
On Aug. 20, Homeless Military Veterans became involved in rectifying the issues with the property, said the nonprofit’s president, Kelly Hall.
Hall told the Report on Aug. 24 that all overdue utilities had been paid, adding that the trash will be picked up Wednesday.
EGRE asked for the nonprofit’s help with the Fort Worth independent living community while planning a collaboration in Austin, Hall said. The nonprofit aims to eventually own the property, he said.
Homeless Military Veterans’ goal is to “get everything back on track,” Hall said, adding that they plan to restart activities for residents and have contacted other nonprofits about reopening the dining room.
Hall said he was told by EGRE that on-site management was tasked with paying the utilities but had not done so.
He attributed the building’s conditions to “bad leadership” from on-site management.
“The past management really didn’t manage anything,” Hall said.
In the Aug. 3 email obtained by the Report, the property manager outlined to EGRE ownership the problems resulting from the unpaid utilities and emphasized that “immediate funding and payment” of the utilities was needed to prevent further health and safety problems.
‘This is our home’
Manor Independent Living’s website boasts of bingo nights, creative activities, daily meals, an on-site doctor’s office and a 24-hour staff.
A medical room on the first floor has gone unused for years, predating the current owners, Tucker and her partner, tenant Gary Daniel, said. Inside, walkers, canes and a wheelchair were stacked on counters and strewn around the room. A red sharps disposal container, items still inside — including a used syringe — sat on a counter.
Medical equipment fills a room at Manor Independent Living Aug. 19, 2026. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Regular activities, such as bingo and poker, ceased about a year ago, Tucker said.
Resident Gary Daniel, 76, sits in a dark community room at Manor Independent Living in Fort Worth on Aug. 19, 2026. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Just beyond the building’s lobby, sets of double doors lead to the former dining room. Management closed the space about four months ago, tenants said. Those doors are now locked, one set held together by a bicycle lock wrapped around the handles.
Dining rooms at Manor Independent Living are locked with a bicycle lock Aug. 19, 2026, near Las Vegas Trail in Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Some tenants order delivery, while others receive food from Meals on Wheels.
Tucker and Daniel take the bus to Walmart to purchase groceries, and Tucker cooks meals for the two in their apartment, she said. Not all residents are able to do the same, she added.
EGRE and another LLC, Pramukh Mahant Senior Living Fort Worth, are parent companies of Calmont Villa FW LLC. Records from the Tarrant Appraisal District list Calmont Villa FW as the owner of the property.
EGRE and Pramukh Mahant Senior Living Fort Worth were sued by a lender, American Community Lending Holdings LLC, on May 13 for breach of contract, federal court records show.
The lender argued Calmont Villa defaulted on its loan of more than $6 million. American Community Lending Holdings also alleges the defendants, as guarantors of the loan, were obligated to pay but have not done so.
The defendants denied the allegations in an answer filed with the court.
“We do not comment on pending litigation, but look forward to presenting the facts of this matter in court,” Jourdan Wallace, attorney for the defendants, said in an email to the Report.
Christopher Odinet, a professor at the Texas A&M School of Law with expertise in commercial and property law, said the low-income tenants may be left with few legal remedies.
When a landlord does not pay for utilities it agreed to provide, the tenants can break their lease and leave. But that also requires them to have somewhere else to go, Odinent noted.
Another option is to sue the landlord to compel them to fulfill their obligations or to pay damages. But low-income tenants may not be able to afford an attorney. Even if they could, a landlord already in financial trouble may not have the money to pay those damages, Odinet said.
Scott Holcomb, a 66-year-old Manor resident who moved in seven months ago, had previously been sleeping in a homeless shelter or on the street.
“One morning, I was sitting on the sidewalk,” he said. “I told myself, ‘No more, No more. I’m tired of lying to my grandchildren on the phone when they’re worried about me.’”
Holcomb remembered that there were housing options in the area and took a bus there. He tried the affordable housing development across the street first but was told the community had a two-year waitlist, he said. He then walked over to Manor and signed on after finding a unit under $1,000 that was affordable for him.
Some tenants with the means to move have imminent plans to leave. Loretta Jennings, a retired insurance salesperson who will be 78 next month, moved in last November with her miniature schnauzer, Little Man. She found a new apartment last week and planned to go there the next day.
Loretta Jennings, who will be 78 next month, stands in her apartment with her dog Little Man at Manor Independent Living on Aug. 19, 2026, in the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood of Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Tucker and Daniel have begun looking at new places to live as well. Ultimately, they do not want to leave.
“This is our home,” Daniel said.
But the stress caused from their living situation has led to negative health consequences for Tucker, she said. She could not keep food down and lost 16 pounds in three months. About two months ago, she was hospitalized after passing out from not eating.
For Daniel, managing his stress is important to prevent another stroke. He is what keeps her going, Tucker said.
Daniel moved into the building in 2015. The two met not long after Tucker moved into the building with her uncle. Daniel asked her on a date, and they shared a meal at a Mexican Inn. They have been together since.
Tenant Latrice Tucker, 67, right, cooks for herself and Gary Daniel, 76, at Manor Independent Living on Aug. 19, 2026, near Las Vegas Trail in Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
After Tucker’s uncle died, she decided to stay in the building. It was home, and she had Daniel.
“I wanted to stay there, and then now I want to move on,” she said. “I hate to do it, but I tell Gary, if we don’t have something done here soon, you and I are going to have to make some decisions on where we’re going to live.”
McKinnon Rice is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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