Family receives temporary housing after fire destroys southwest Houston apartment complex

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Eyewitness News is seeing an outpour of support for a family who lost their home this holiday season.

ABC13 has been reporting on a fire that ripped through the Fairmont Apartments at Hillcroft near Neff Street on Christmas night.

Armando Perez, 30, has been charged with arson and is in jail on a $75,000 bond.

According to newly released court documents, Perez allegedly burned down his own father's home.

After ABC13's report aired Tuesday night, Eyewitness News got a call from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

She later called one family directly and arranged temporary housing for them with help from the American Red Cross.

"My mom, right now, she's trying to look like she's strong, but there are times when she is talking to the manager, and she just breaks down," 17-year-old Luis Luis said.

He told ABC13 he answered a call Tuesday night, and it was Jackson Lee.

"I'm there now at the age I want to be," he explained. "I can help them out, like with moving stuff, protecting my mom, seeing where we're going, talking to people, translating for people."

The family was living in their previous apartment for four years and was barely making rent with Luis' mother's house cleaning job.

Now, their home is destroyed. It's still soaking from the fire that started in the apartment above.

On Wednesday, Perez appeared in court.

New court documents reveal his father is disabled and was trapped until firefighters arrived.

As Perez sits in jail, the Luis family of six is now sleeping on inflatable beds.

It's not much, but it's more than the one bed they shared before the fire.

"I didn't have anybody to lean on because my mom was more into like, 'We have to work. We have to move on. We don't have time to sit and cry.' That's how I got raised," he said. "At the same time, I know how it feels to just ignore the way you feel because you don't really have time to ask yourself, 'Am I really OK to do this?'"

If you would like to help the Luis family, they are accepting donations to get them back on their feet.

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