Houston City Councilman Steve Le last month became the fourth man to represent District F in the last seven years, and the third to face questions over whether he actually lives in the Alief-area district.

Houston's city charter requires district council members to have lived in their districts for at least 12 months immediately preceding Election Day.

Le said he began renting a room from his cousin at her Alief home in January 2014. On his sworn application to appear on the city ballot last fall, Le said that by Election Day he would have lived there 20 months, which would date back to March 2014.

The new councilman, who ousted one-term incumbent Richard Nguyen, has more formal links to an address in Kingwood than to the Alief address on Wildacres Drive, however.

That angers Barbara Quattro, a longtime Alief civic leader who, with a few others, held signs outside Jones Hall questioning the new councilman's residency when he and the rest of City Council were inaugurated last month.

"A candidate's not actually being a resident has become so commonplace in District F that it's turned into an inside joke," said Quattro, who supported Nguyen's reelection. "Piney Point? Pearland? Kingwood? Close enough to Alief."

Accusations over a candidate's residency are not new to District F.

Former councilman Al Hoang, whom Nguyen defeated in 2013, claimed to have lived in his District F home for longer than he had owned it during his first council campaign, and transferred his voter registration to the address less than three weeks before Election Day that fall. Hoang had transferred ownership of a Pearland home to his wife, who continued to claim a homestead exemption there.

Hoang's predecessor, M.J. Khan, faced similar accusations, after he listed two different addresses on official documents, one inside District F and the other in Piney Point Village, on which his wife claimed a homestead exemption.

'Active' in community

Houston political consultant Mustafa Tameez, who did outreach to Asian voters for former mayors Lee Brown and Bill White and has done work for state Rep. Hubert Vo, whose district overlaps District F, said part of the residency accusations stem from the multicultural nature of the district.

Many international communities have strongholds in the area, heavy with apartments and low-cost housing, Tameez said, but the political candidates representing these communities tend to be wealthier and reside outside the area.

"It hasn't affected the voters or the outcome of elections," Tameez said. "I also think that the notion of community is different in multicultural communities than traditional neighborhoods. I think in the past people identified as, 'I live in Sharpstown.' Today they may say, 'I'm a Vietnamese-American.' And so that boundary line as to where you live may not matter to the Vietnamese-American voters."

Le, a physician whose practice is in Cleveland, reports owning no property on his city financial disclosure form. His business is registered to a home his parents own in Kingwood, and he is one of five people listed on the deed of trust for that property.

Three of the four vehicles currently registered to his name are listed at the Kingwood address; the fourth, purchased in December, is registered to the Alief address.

Le did not move his voter registration to the Alief address - where his cousin still claims a homestead exemption - until March 26, 2015, after he had begun campaigning.

"We've been active in that community for a long time, almost 10 years now," Le said. "My children, ever since the two older daughters moved out, we had more flexibility in relocating to where we really wanted to be. The law doesn't require you to be full-time anywhere."

He acknowledges often staying at the Kingwood home, such as days when he works at the clinic in Cleveland, because it is a far shorter drive than Alief. However, he said he has stayed in the District F home more since first renting it in January 2014, and said he activated a rent-to-own clause in his lease when he decided to run for office.

Le said he delayed moving his voter registration because he was not politically involved until he decided to run for council.

Why have rules?

Patti Tristan, who has lived across the street from the Alief home since May, said last week that she had never seen Le at the property.

The home appeared to function as a campaign headquarters for some of the fall, she said, with a dozen cars lining the street and the garage full of yard signs.

Tristan said the only person she ever has seen at the house is a man, who introduced himself to a reporter as Le's brother-in-law, Steven, last week but declined to give his surname; a Steven Luong is registered to vote at the address. The man said Le was at a meeting and would be back later that night.

Quattro twice has addressed City Council on the residency issue, arguing that the city should screen candidates' applications and stop accepting sworn statements about their residency at face value.

"If you cannot or will not enforce the rules," she told council last week, "then why do we have them?"

The legal authority to act on the residency allegations against Le rests with the Texas Attorney General or with the Harris County Attorney's office, which has been fighting a court battle to remove Houston Community College trustee Dave Wilson from office in another case regarding the office-holder's actual residence. The county has challenged Wilson's claim that he resides at a warehouse in northwest Houston.

First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said his office is "reviewing" a complaint about Le's residency.

Texas law requires an elected official to have a residence within the given jurisdiction he represents, Soard said, but the law does not clarify what maintaining a residence means; for instance, Soard said, the law does not require an official to live in any one house full time.

City Attorney Donna Edmundson said the city has no investigative or enforcement role once the outcome of an election has been certified.

"I feel that he should live in whatever district that he's running for," Tristan said. "Alief does need a lot of things. We need to have safe communities and people who are our proponents who will help us."

Le said he interprets concerns about his residency as being driven in part by political opponents and by some residents not knowing him.

"I represent everybody, including the 49 percent of the people who didn't vote for me," Le said. "Regardless of what the supporters of my opponent want, our goals are the same, and that goal is to make our community and our neighborhood better."