Thousands of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents are grappling with a lack of heat and hot water during a period of severe cold weather, reports from local agencies indicate. The NYCHA's own service disruptions tracker showed that the entire Soundview development in the Bronx, which houses over 2,600 people, had experienced unplanned outages. Thankfully, by late yesterday afternoon, repairs had to be made to restore services, as NYCHA confirmed to Gothamist.
Other complexes were not as fortunate; the Alfred E. Smith Houses in Manhattan had over 1,000 units without heat, affecting 3,682 residents. A NYCHA spokesperson announced that the agency was increasing staffing to quickly address any unplanned service interruptions, including at the Smith Houses. They encouraged residents needing assistance to contact the Customer Contact Center. This update to quickly try and resolve the issues was disclosed to PIX11.
Furthermore, around 370 additional NYCHA residents faced water-related outages across different boroughs. The Teller Avenue Complex in the Bronx had 160 residents without hot water while a building at the Farragut Houses in Vinegar Hill had almost 300 residents affected by a water outage since Sunday, detailed by an online service interruptions tracker and later reported by Gothamist. In Red Hook, Brooklyn, around 210 inhabitants faced a hot water interruption, although service has since been reestablished.
Residents are struggling not just with the cold but also the response to these crises. Amanda Flores, a 24-year-old resident of Holmes Towers, lamented to Gothamist about sporadic hot water availability and insufficient resolutions over the years. "I feel like the hot water is almost never on and we kind of have to constantly be calling to report it, and nothing really ever gets done," she expressed, depicting a wearisome cycle of temporary fixes and recurrent cold.
With night temperatures expected to plunge into the teens and daily highs staying below freezing, these outages pose a serious hazard. City regulations mandate that building owners provide heat during winter months when temperatures fall below 55 during the day and maintain indoor levels at 68 degrees. Should tenants in private rental buildings face similar issues, they are advised by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development to reach out to their landlord or superintendent before contacting 311 to help ensure services are promptly restored.
