SAN ANTONIO – Residents of Wheatley Park Senior Living said they have had enough of empty promises for solutions from the firm that manages the property.
A group of residents told media members they are facing several problems in their homes, including a lack of air conditioning, pests, and exterior doors that will not latch.
The problems have persisted for more than a year after the last time KSAT spoke to residents.
Wheatley Park Senior Living is owned by Opportunity Home San Antonio, which provides public assistance for affordable housing, but is operated by management firm McCormack Baron Salazar.
The tenants said high turnover has hindered progress.
“Get down here and do their work,” resident Rita Bethany said when asked about her message to the management firm. “It’s a shame.”
Many of the residents have lived in the building for seven years, since it first opened. They said it was great in the beginning, but it went downhill after COVID.
Bethany told KSAT 12 she did not have air conditioning in her bedroom in June 2024. More than a year later, that remains the case.
For the last six months, she has been relying on box fans in the window donated by Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert.
In a statement, McCormack Baron Salazar said it is working with a new vendor to address ongoing air conditioning malfunctions, following the bankruptcy of the last firm it had worked with.
“Over the past two years, we have worked with multiple vendors to troubleshoot the system and have systematically made repairs to circuit boards, fan coils, and system leaks,” the statement said. “The vendor that handled repairs throughout 2024, and had parts on order to continue work in 2025, has since gone out of business.”
Residents said this problem has been ongoing for more than two years; however, they stated that it would not have been a problem had they performed routine maintenance.
Concerns were also raised by residents about safety at the building,
Several residents told KSAT 12 that people who do not belong in the building enter to steal, vandalize or seek shelter.
In the statement, McCormack Baron Salazar said it is replacing the door code system and all residents will soon receive a new key fob. The firm also reminded residents not to share building access codes with people who do not live in the building.
Residents showed KSAT that some exterior doors do not latch shut properly, leaving the building insecure.
While the building used to have 24-hour security, residents said that it has been reduced to just five hours a day due to budget constraints.
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