The night Janika Royal first moved into her new home in Lakeshore Villages near Slidell, she was too excited to wait for the furniture to arrive, so she slept on an air mattress on the floor.
It was her first home, and as a U.S. Marines veteran, she’d gotten help from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to secure the loan. She moved in on Oct. 31, 2023, with her niece and her two sons.
But as Royal said in state court in Baton Rouge in December and again at a community meeting in Slidell on Tuesday, a year after moving in, she saw mold in her coat closet and all over the ceiling of her mechanical closet. She said she began suffering migraines and her children developed allergies and rashes.
“I served my country, I raised my kids, I thought I was doing everything right purchasing my home, and I’m left with just a nightmare,” Royal said Tuesday at a community meeting at a church in Slidell attended by over 100 other people.
Royal is among a number of Louisiana homeowners who have filed suit against the nation’s largest homebuilder, D.R. Horton, arguing the company’s homes are not built to withstand Louisiana’s climate. Their attorneys are seeking state court approval to proceed with a class-action lawsuit against the company, said attorney Lance Unglesby.
The company did not respond to an emailed request for comment and an employee of D.R. Horton said by phone that media inquiries must go through email. The company has previously defended the quality of its homes and also argued that because of agreements that residents signed when they bought their homes, the disputes should be settled through arbitration, which would follow different procedures than traditional court.
In response to Royal’s lawsuit in state court, D.R. Horton has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to have a federal judge order her to arbitration.
D.R. Horton has homes in developments across Louisiana from Lake Charles to Slidell. Once completed, Lakeshore Villages, where Royal lives, is expected to have thousands of homes, becoming one of the largest developments in St. Tammany Parish. The company also has homes in the Bonterra and Tamanend neighborhoods in St. Tammany.
Construction continues on homes on Bypass Breeze Drive in Lakeshore Villages subdivision near Slidell, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. (Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune)
FILE PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD
At the community meeting in Slidell on Tuesday, around a dozen homeowners from Lakeshore Villages complained of mold, ventilation problems and water intrusion, as well as health issues. The meeting was organized by the community groups Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany and Louisiana United International in response to homeowner complaints.
“I pay too much money on my mortgage and my taxes, insurance is too much, to be living in this type of environment,” said Eva Woods, who lives in Lakeshore Villages, in front of a line of other homeowners getting ready to share their concerns.
A door with mold in the mechanical closet in Janika Royal’s home (Courtesy of Janika Royal).
Lakeshore Villages is outside the city limits of Slidell, so building regulations fall to St. Tammany Parish Government.
Nic LeBlanc, the parish’s director of permits, said in an interview that every home in Lakeshore Villages must undergo parish inspections and is required to meet building codes, but noted those were minimum requirements.
“Many, many builders do not go for minimum. They go for exceeding the minimum,” he said.
He also said that since Jan. 1 of this year, all inspections have been required to be conducted by parish employees, as opposed to contractors.