Residents At Pittsburgh Apartment Complex Say Heat Is Still Broken
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Some residents at a Bloomfield apartment building are still without heat.
Some residents are even more concerned because temperatures are supposed to drop into the single digits overnight.
KDKA's Amy Wadas broke the story earlier this week when a relative let her know that the heat has been working off and on for years.
Action Housing, which owns Penn Mathilda Apartments, organized a town hall meeting for residents late Friday afternoon. Kyle Webster, general counsel for the owner, says there's still work that needs to be done. Action Housing has offered up a hotel for tenants to stay in this weekend.
Webster says Action Housing also issued a notice to every tenant, letting them know a technician will be accessing each unit on Monday. He says as far as officials can tell, none of the units are broken, but some units don't seem to be pushing out heat as well as they should.
Two days have passed since KDKA talked to army veteran Michael Harvey. As of Friday afternoon, he said he still did not have heat. He's using his electric stove to keep his apartment warm.
"Heating guy said to me, turn your stove off and see how much heat is in there. I said OK. Went and came back two hours later, I said it's cool in here. Now I got to turn my heat back on. Turn my oven back on," said Harvey.
Antoinette Osei and her husband, Navy veteran Michael Kreiselmeier, are in a similar situation.
"Last night, I was so cold I was shivering," Osei said. "Had blankets and everything on me. ... Why do we have to resort to calling the news to get basic help."
Some help arrived just in time for lunch on Friday. East End Cooperative Ministry delivered hot meals and heavy coats.
"Hopefully, the coats will be helpful, and since they're probably gonna be sitting in their apartments with coats on," said East End Cooperative Ministry President and CEO Carole Bailey.
Webster says contractors have been on site every day since Tuesday and came back Friday, after some tenants were still complaining to the office and KDKA that they didn't have heat.
"Because of my wife and you guys, the right hand is finally communicating with the left," said Kreiselmeier.