Rainbow Terrace housing conditions

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard and outcomes incomplete.

What: A resident of the Rainbow Terrace housing complex told council about unsafe living conditions.
Where it stands: raised in public comment on 2026-10-12 (a resident and Bridget Smith Jackson asked for a coordinated city response) and again on 2026-10-19; no council or administration response on the record.
Next: unknown; the record is a single resident's testimony.

One resident's account, not verified.

A resident of about five years, speaking for what she said were 44 families, described the property as hazardous and said it could have another serious incident like one in the past.
Said she does not feel safe sharing more and asked what council will do.
No named official responded at the meeting.

Residents' accounts, not verified.

A resident of the complex said she and her children are still traumatized and asked what the city will do about it.
Bridget Smith Jackson cited the June 23 explosion (one death, two children burned, 44 households displaced) and thanked Mayor Bibb and his administration for last week's meeting with the families.
She said a meeting is not a coordinated plan and asked for one empowered city lead, immediate housing, financial, legal and behavioral health services, one table with the city, county, housing authority and providers, and individual family plans with timelines. She said one displaced family's new rent is 98 percent of its income, and that cabinet emails go unacknowledged.
She said she cannot continue as an unpaid substitute for a government response.

Residents' accounts, not verified; based on an automatic speech-to-text transcript.

Several residents and relatives of residents said the city's finding that the cause of the explosion was "undetermined", 15 months later, was unacceptable, and described displacement, health effects and disputes with property management.
Starr said the city's report found gas accumulated and ignited but the gas and ignition sources could not be established, that a gas line was missing from the utility's map, and that a pipe was removed in a way that prevented testing. He asked for a council hearing and for release of records, including body-worn camera recordings.
Griffin said council plans a hearing using subpoena powers, with all members present, and that he had asked the governor for help. See Body-Worn Camera Records Release.

About 7 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-19 - City Council	2
2026-10-12 - City Council	5

2026-10-19 - City Council - Resident public comment on unsafe conditions at the complex.
2026-10-12 - City Council - A resident and Bridget Smith Jackson asked for a coordinated city response after the June 23 explosion; no reply on the record.
2026-09-28 - City Council - Public comment from several residents on the "undetermined" finding; Starr and Griffin announced a planned hearing with subpoenas.