The investigation, featured in the WFAA special “Unlicensed and Unchecked,” exposed a hidden network of unlicensed facilities operating with little oversight.
DALLAS — After a year-long WFAA investigation revealed how vulnerable Texans were being funneled into dangerous, unregulated boarding homes, Gov. Greg Abbott has signed two new bills into law aimed at protecting elderly and disabled residents from exploitation and neglect.
The investigation, featured in the WFAA special “Unlicensed and Unchecked,” exposed a hidden network of unlicensed facilities operating with little oversight—and the largely unregulated system of senior placement agents who helped fill them.
The new laws—House Bill 2510 and Senate Bill 1137—take effect Sept. 1.
HB 2510 makes it a criminal offense to operate an unlicensed assisted living facility. Until now, Texas law allowed such operations to continue with few consequences. Regulators could issue civil fines, but operators faced no criminal liability.
SB 1137 imposes rules on senior placement agents for the first time. Consultants who accept fees for placements must disclose any complaints and are barred from referring clients to unlicensed facilities—unless no licensed options are available. Until now, placement agents operated entirely outside state oversight.
Lawmakers say the new laws close critical loopholes and give the state stronger tools to protect residents and hold bad actors accountable.
The legislative action follows WFAA’s reporting on conditions inside boarding homes where elderly, disabled and mentally ill residents were warehoused in unsafe environments. Some died preventable deaths. Others were stripped of their dignity, finances—and even their homes.
In one case, 60-year-old Kelly Pankratz died of mixed drug toxicity while living in a Fort Worth-area boarding home. The medical examiner determined his system contained medications that had not been prescribed to him. Just hours before his death, Pankratz left a voicemail for his brother raising concerns that he was being drugged. The home’s operator, Regla “Su” Becquer, has since been charged with murder.
WFAA also found that families were often steered into these homes by senior housing consultants—middlemen paid by operators but not required to inspect the facilities or disclose whether they were licensed.
In other cases, operators seized control of residents’ property. Diana Aycox, who lived with dementia, lost her home after signing over a deed to a boarding home operator. Her belongings were later found discarded, and her house remains tied up in legal limbo.
WFAA’s special report “Unlicensed and Unchecked” aired this week, spotlighting the families affected, the breakdowns that allowed these homes to flourish, and the push for reform at the Capitol.