TAKING ACTION: Ocean Hill tenants ask for help after repeated leaks, months with no heat
Julius Freeman, 65, says the lack of heat has made caring for his sister with special needs difficult.
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Tenants in an Ocean Hill apartment building say they have been living for months without reliable heat and dealing with dangerous conditions inside their homes.
Julius Freeman, 65, says the lack of heat has made caring for his sister with special needs difficult.
“How am I going to go shower her in 60, 70 degree water, come in to an apartment that has no heat and then go outside?” Freeman asked.
Another tenant, Robert, said water poured through his ceiling in December and has still not been repaired.
“We’ve been using the stove for the past six years for heat. So the stove conked out,” Robert said.
Tenants also shared video showing a hole in a bathroom ceiling that they say allowed wastewater from the apartment above to leak through.
“I put that up myself because I cannot continue to come home and my bathroom smells like a urinal,” a resident said.
Residents pointed out broken stairs and water pouring through hallway light fixtures.
“If I’m not careful, I get caught in here and all the sudden we got a hospital visit,” another tenant said.
Freeman said the conditions could turn deadly.
“I’d rather be on TV with you now talking about this than have you come in here and we’re all out there burnt to a crisp,” he said.
City records show 171 housing complaints and 68 violations at the building.
The property management company, Guardeum, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
HPD sent News 12 the following statement: "Every New Yorker deserves a safe and warm place to call home, and HPD’s enforcement team takes that responsibility very seriously. HPD has responded to several complaints in this building— we are currently working to ensure that the problems are corrected and will return to the apartment this evening to reinspect. We encourage any tenant facing potentially unsafe conditions in their home to report it to 311 so that HPD inspectors can address them.”
