A lifeline or a trap? The fight to regulate Texas boarding homes

DALLAS — The houses looked ordinary enough from the outside. But going inside to inspect the homes revealed troubling problems. 

The photos, provided to WFAA by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, revealed squalid and unsafe conditions; the kind of environment that makes you wonder how anyone could call it home. 

For many Texans with disabilities, limited income, or no family support, boarding homes are a lifeline. The homes provide shelter, meals, and basic care. However, due to the lack of regulation in most of Texas, a WFAA investigation found the homes can also become havens for neglect, exploitation and abuse. 

In Dallas and Harris County, officials are taking a stand. They’re cracking down on unlicensed boarding homes and pushing for compliance with ordinances designed to protect some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. 

“Pretty much the worst that you can think of — we’ve seen it,” said Harris County Sheriff’s Investigator Greg Lowry, a member of the boarding home unit. 

Harris County, one of about a half dozen Texas municipalities that regulate boarding homes, requires inspections, criminal background checks, and strict compliance with safety codes. The rules also empower officials to close unlicensed homes. 

“They hide in plain sight,” said Asst. Chief Chad Shaw of the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office. “They’re in neighborhoods. They’re in single-family residences.” 

Officials say the money attracts unlicensed home operators.  

“There’s money to be made, and easy money to be stolen from either Medicaid or from Social Security,” Lowry said.  

Dallas also has taken steps to regulate boarding homes, with police and code enforcement teaming up to investigate complaints. In a September 2024 inspection, officials visited a home on Buford Drive after receiving a complaint that people were seen wandering in streets outside an unlicensed boarding home.   

Body camera footage showed police and code enforcement talking to a resident of the home, who told them that eight residents lived there. He told officials that the operator provided them with meals.  

“It’s like a family house,” the resident said.  

Officials concluded it was an unlicensed boarding home and shut it down. 

On body cam, the resident identified the operator of the home as Regina Jefferson.  

Jefferson told WFAA in an interview it was not a boarding home.  

“When they said it was my house, they were incorrect,” she said.  

She said she had rented the house for the residents, and made sure the bills were paid. However, she insisted it was not a boarding home. In 2023, Jefferson was arrested after being accused of running an illegal boarding home at another location. The case has not yet gone to trial.  

When asked about the case, Jefferson told WFAA that it used to be her boarding home, but she no longer operated it. 

“You got people with guns and badges pulling up to these houses, and to these people, they’re intimidated,” she said. “They love me…This is who makes sure they’re good.” 

But Jefferson does operate a licensed boarding home in south-central Dallas.  

The official said the city is waiting for the outcome of her criminal case before deciding whether to revoke or suspend her license.  

Enforcing regulations has been an uphill battle. City officials said some operators moved to new locations to evade detection, while others openly flouted the rules. One Dallas man claimed to be an “advocate for the homeless” and refused to license his properties. 

“He may feel that he’s being an advocate… but a lot of times he’s hurting them, putting them in bad situations,” said Dallas Police Lt. Keitric Jones. 

With penalties maxing out at six months in jail, officials told WFAA that stronger enforcement tools are needed. Advocates have argued that increased penalties and statewide regulations remain essential to address the issue. 

“We do need the boarding homes,” Lowry said. “But we just need them done correctly.”