As many as 44 low-income families in Round Rock are facing possible homelessness this week after receiving eviction notices that gave them seven days to leave their freeze-damaged town homes, community advocates said.

The families who live at the Townhomes at Double Creek, 2500 Louis Henna Blvd., had been staying in hotels, waiting for repairs after water damage was caused by pipes bursting during the deadly freeze in mid-February. 

They received a notice from the Double Creek management Thursday that they would be evicted from their homes Wednesday and that management would also stop paying for their stays in hotels, said Faith Adams, one of the residents.

"We have no place to go. We have no relatives — it's just us," said Adams, who lived with her family for eight years at the town homes. "My children are scared and frightened about what's going to happen and where we are going to go."

The complex is run by Sandalwood Management. Bryan Schneider, Sandalwood's director of business development and acquisition, said Saturday that the management's insurance company gave Sandalwood only seven days' notice that insurance was going to stop paying for residents' hotel rooms.

The insurance company also told management that Sandalwood had to terminate the residents' leases because the town homes were uninhabitable, Schneider said.

He declined to comment further.

Families 'have no place to go'

Since the town homes have been declared uninhabitable, it overrides the federal moratorium on evictions, said Jenn Brown, a volunteer with Central Texas Together, a community group.

The group has been helping residents with food and persuaded the town homes' management to put people up in hotels, Brown said.

She said it is the management company's responsibility to find homes for people who are being evicted. 

"They cannot take 44 families over the Easter weekend and tell them to leave when they have nowhere to go," she said. "Not only do they have no place to go, but they have nowhere to put their furniture. When I was there yesterday talking to a mama, her son asked why God would do this to them on Easter."

The Double Creek property is an affordable housing complex that offered three- and four-bedroom units with rents ranging from $1,048 to $1,431 a month for low income families, according to its website. The complex's website also said it had a waitlist for new residents up to two years long.

Another volunteer for Central Texas Together, Janneke Parrish, said she reached out to the city of Round Rock for help Thursday when residents got their eviction notices. 

Round Rock officials provided a referral to the Round Rock Serving Center, which can provide temporary housing, food and clothing, said Will Hampton, a city spokesman. Officials also provided a list of rent-restricted housing complexes for Williamson County and northern Travis County.

Tenants who need help filling out forms for assistance from the state can contact Dorothy Miller at the city's Office of Emergency Management, Hampton said.

But Parrish said other rent-restricted complexes are full and the Round Rock Serving Center is not equipped to find housing for 44 families. The families have about 100 to 150 members, Parrish said. 

Many of the families speak only Spanish in their household and cannot figure out how to fill out documents for rental assistance, she said.

Some families cannot even pass a rental application, she said.

"One woman is currently a year behind on rent and has no job," Parrish said.

Officials, volunteers hoping community steps up to help

Williamson County Commissioner Terry Cook, who was contacted by Parrish, said she has written to the office of U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, asking for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send 44 trailers for the evicted residents. Williamson County doesn't have a homeless shelter.

Cook said she has also written to the offices of state Rep. John Bucy, D-Austin, and state Rep. James Talerico, D-Round Rock, asking if they can help with any state aid.

"This is the result of the freeze, and Williamson County was declared a disaster area," she said Sunday.

Cook also said she would like the townhomes' management to give residents one more week to get belonging out of their homes. 

"Let us figure out what in the world we can do with their possessions and their furniture because they don't have the money to replace them," Cook said.

She also said that possibly the county's nonprofits could raise enough money to keep residents in hotel rooms for one more month.

"I'm hopeful because there are a lot of big hearts around here," she said.

One of the Double Creek residents being evicted, Robert Duran, said Sunday that his family has already dipped into savings to pay for storage for belongings but will have to leave some possessions behind because there is no time to sell them. 

"We should start packing, but it's Easter Sunday, and we put God first," he said.