When St. Teresa of Calcutta Villa opened in early 2022, it was hailed as a symbol of hope by Father Joe’s president and CEO, Deacon Jim Vargas.
It offered 407 units of affordable housing for San Diegans transitioning out of homelessness — a place where they could connect with services.
But residents said it wasn’t long before all that hope and promise descended into something quite different; a building that was not properly maintained, and at the center of it all, its bank of three elevators.
“I’m not supposed to use the stairs. I’m not supposed to lift anything over five pounds. I have severe degenerative disc disease,” said Christina Maria Ennis.
Ennis was one of the first residents of St. Teresa. She moved to the building in February of 2022.
We first met her in July of 2023 when she and fellow resident Maurice Trull got a lawyer and brought a lawsuit against Father Joe’s and the company that runs the place, Commercial and 14th LLC.
“There’s many, many, many more people a lot worse off than I am, that live in this building, people in wheelchairs and walkers and canes all the way up to the 15th floor,” Ennis said.
Trull is one of the residents who uses a wheelchair.
“It’s been kind of difficult. Cause I like to go, come and go, like I want to,” Trull said.
“I have missed appointments because the elevators have been down,” said resident Jimmy Williams, an army veteran we met when we visited the building last year.
Like Trull, Williams uses a wheelchair. Nevertheless, building management placed him in a fourth floor apartment.
“I don’t think they care about us, that’s what I’m thinking, because if they did, everybody who’s got walkers and wheelchairs automatically should be on the first floor … But being on the fourth floor and the third floor, we can’t get out, and we gonna die,” Williams said.
The allegations from Jimmy Williams, Maria Ennis and Maurice Trull were confirmed by Cal/OSHA’s Elevator Unit, which told us via email that they had received confidential complaints, and sent inspectors who found the elevators weren’t working.
But they also said they do not have the power to require elevator owners to return nonfunctioning elevators to service.
“This is a violation of the fair housing laws that require access,” said longtime civil rights attorney Ann Menasche, who calls herself a “bulldog for justice.”
She took up the case. Menasche described the elevator situation as “just one disaster after another,” ticking off a list of problems.
“Constant breakdowns, either one (elevator) working, two working, or none working, which was disastrous for people. Including Michael Mendez, one of the plaintiffs, who ended up being stuck out of his apartment for hours (and) ended up in the hospital,” Menasche said. “And that is so incredibly irresponsible to not put the money in to have proper maintenance of elevators.”
Menasche filed her lawsuit in July of 2023. At that time, Father Joe’s Villages said they couldn’t talk about pending litigation, but they did provide a statement which said in part, “FJV has an internal complaint process to remedy structural or maintenance issues residents may discover.”
Now, in 2025, there is a settlement. Building management is being compelled to fix the elevators and to keep them running.
“And we have a mechanism in place with the court for two years that there'll be court monitoring, and we can go to the judge if there's a problem that's not being handled properly. So we have that mechanism. They're also going to be quarterly meetings. So we are going to stay on top of it,” Menasche said.
Now that the lawsuit is settled, we thought Father Joe’s would be eager to be interviewed on the matter. We spoke on the phone with Deacon Jim Vargas and he confirmed that he was aware the litigation had been resolved.
He said he’d direct their Media Relations company, Mixte, to reach out to us. A public relations strategist there, Byron Kimball, did reach out via email, “This is an active case, and Fr. Joe’s Villages is not at liberty to comment on the proceedings.”
Knowing the case had been settled, we responded with that fact, and asked if perhaps Kimball was referring to a different lawsuit.
He responded that he (Kimball) was aware of the current situation, but, “Despite all that, Father Joe's Villages is not able to discuss this case or its proceedings at this time. We can't grant you an interview.”
We then asked why they would not provide someone for an interview, or even issue a statement. We never heard back.
We also tried calling and texting Deacon Vargas again, but we didn’t receive a response.
We also reached out to the law firm that represented the building management company, 14th and Commercial LLC. We didn’t get a response from them either.
The lack of response from Father Joe’s and the law firm aside residents Maria Ennis and Maurice Trull are cautiously optimistic.
“They've been a lot nicer now that things have been tightening up, and the elevators have been fixed a lot more lately. Even now that everything's coming together, there's a lot less tension in the building with residents and management and everything,” Ennis said.
“That's great because it's so many people in here that need things to work for them, especially when people want to get out. You know what I'm saying? If the elevators don't work, it's difficult for people to come enjoy this weather, you know what I'm saying? This is a great thing,” Trull said.
A great thing that’s now under court order to stay that way.
