A Bronx mother’s TikTok of her freezing Highbridge apartment, including a shot of her eight-year-old daughter’s breath fogging the bedroom air, has racked up hundreds of thousands of views and turned up the heat on building management to fix the radiators. Tenants describe cold units, recurring illness and sleepless nights spent bundled up indoors, while the viral clip has pushed neighbors and advocates to press city agencies for faster repairs and tougher enforcement.
Viral plea draws attention
As reported by News 12 Bronx, 36-year-old Mireya Garcia posted the TikTok on Sunday and said apartments in the building were “unbearable, unlivable” as dozens of tenants coped without heat. According to News 12, the clip has more than 200,000 views, and Garcia told reporters she saw “steam coming out” of her daughter’s mouth, a detail that helped the video spread quickly online.
HPD records show long list of violations
Public records for the building at 911 Walton Ave. list more than 100 violations and several open complaints for no heat, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s online records. The city treats lack of heat during the October through May “heat season” as an immediately hazardous (Class C) condition and may order emergency repairs or levy civil penalties if owners do not act, per state and city reporting on heat enforcement.
Manager says boiler broke
In the building’s basement, a management employee told News 12 Bronx that “the issue was that the boiler broke,” adding that “it should be up running tonight.” Tenants say promised fixes have sometimes been slow or short-lived, leaving residents to shiver through cold nights even after repairs are announced.
Trouble has cropped up at Walton before
Heating problems at the Walton Avenue buildings are not new. Tenants at 911 and neighboring 923 Walton rallied in 2018 and filed an “HP action” seeking court-ordered repairs after repeated outages and short heating cycles, according to The Indypendent. That history helps explain why residents say the latest outage so quickly turned into a viral call for accountability.
What the law requires and how tenants can respond
City rules require landlords to maintain minimum indoor temperatures between Oct. 1 and May 31: at least 68°F during the day when outdoor temperatures fall below 55°F and at least 62°F overnight, and to provide hot water year-round, according to the Office of the New York State Comptroller. Tenants who lack heat can file complaints through 311. HPD can link multiple tenant complaints and may issue Class C violations, impose daily fines, or hire contractors to perform emergency repairs and bill the owner.
For now, families at 911 Walton say they will keep pressing landlords and calling city agencies until radiators warm up and violations are cleared. The situation remains active, and this story will be updated as new inspections or filings appear in HPD records or tenant reports.
