Man Blames City Of El Paso For Housing Horrors

A Far East El Paso man says his less than 3-year-old home is falling apart, but he points the blame at the city more than the home builders.

Timothy West's home looked much like any other relatively new home in El Paso. But a closer look showed shingles missing on the roof, cracks between the roof and the house and in the garage, plaster missing and water damage.

West bought his home in late 2008 and found out about the garage problems from his 3-year-old daughter.

"She's out playing in my garage on her bicycle, and runs in, 'Mommy, mommy, the roof is falling on me,'" said West.

The house had been inspected by the city, so why would a new home have problems? West said it's because his house, and others in his neighborhood, we're never properly inspected.

"Very sad. Very sick to my stomach," West told KFOX 14. "So depressed. I can't even sleep at night."

After complaining to the city, a city of El Paso inspector came out to his Far East El Paso neighborhood on Monday. In a home video obtained by KFOX 14, the inspector looked at a neighbor's home. The inspector explained why the homes may have had issues, saying they were built in the heyday of the housing boom.

"We were so understaffed due to the relative, the amount of houses being constructed," the city inspector said on the home video.

The inspector explained they did what is called a "general conformity" inspection.

"We're not going to nitpick each house, we can't see everything on each house, like a real thorough inspection that we should take the quality time to do that type of quality inspection," said the city inspector.

"We are addressing this situation," said David Almonte with the City of El Paso.

Almonte said they are working with the homeowners and the builders to find a solution to the problems with the homes, and they are also taking a second look internally.

"I'm working with the department to review our processes, see what their workload is and to make sure we do thorough inspections with all the builders," Almonte told KFOX 14.

The homebuilders told KFOX 14 they are also working with West to try to resolve any issues he has with his home.