NYCHA Tenants In East Harlem Without Hot Water For A Week
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - It's been a chilly holiday season for NYCHA tenants in East Harlem.
An entire apartment building has been without hot water for seven days - including on Christmas. Many also have no heat.
For hundreds of tenants who live in one of the Jefferson House apartments at 327 East 112th Street.
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"It's freezing. Nobody can take a shower over here. You need to boil water," said resident Maria Hernandez.
Some are so fed up, they're finding somewhere else to wash up, like Julisa Jaime and her three kids.
"I'm going to my sister's house right now. This is crazy. It's ridiculous because I pay my rent on time but they don't do their job, giving hot water," Jaime told CBS2's Natalie Duddridge.
Tenants say there's been no notices put up alerting them there's no hot water or when it will be back on. They say they've contacted management and 311.
"[They] said there's no hot water they're trying to fix the hot water. He said he'll call me back, but they haven't called me," said Monserrate Nicop.
When CBS2 reached out to the New York City Housing Authority, they said a staff member a staff member inspected the buildings and only discovered the problem this morning. They blamed a boiler for impacting both hot water and heat, forcing some to run electric heaters overnight.
"It has been hectic hectic but you make the best out of it," one resident said.
While only one of the cluster of 18 buildings is completely without hot water, several of the surrounding apartments are facing a different problem: Water that either doesn't run at all, or when it does it's scalding hot.
"I had to go to the hospital - the water burned my skin. I had to get a first aid kit. I'm telling you scalded, boiling hot water, like an oven," said resident Tisha Givens.
Tenants say they're fed up, having dealt with the issues since Thanksgiving. Some worry the problem will continue right into the New Year.
NYCHA says now that it is aware of the problem it's working to restore heat and hot water as quickly as possible.
