Public housing residents without heat resort to space heaters and ovens to keep warm
Photo by: Chad Jorgenson
Public housing residents without heat resort to space heaters and ovens to keep warm
Victory Manor residents told TMJ4 they haven't had working heat since they moved in
By: Jenna Rae
Posted at 6:44 PM, Jan 09, 2024 and last updated 6:51 PM, Jan 09, 2024
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Space heaters on their kitchen counters, and on their floors, and ovens turned on with the door open.
"I live here, and I know what time it is, and we don't have heat," resident Nathaniel Banks said.
"I ain't been having heat. My apartment been like this since I was here," another resident, Rasheda Ramsey, echoed.
That's how folks are heating their units at Victory Manor, an apartment complex run by the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM).
"Since we been here, we been calling the office, the office gets mad, and said we ain't got no control of it, but this is y'all property and we are freezing," another tenant told TMJ4 Tuesday.
Victory Manor was built by HACM's developer, Travaux, in 2019. Residents said they've been complaining about the lack of heat since the development opened.
"The guy came out and he told me 'I don't know why they keep sending me down here, cause they ain't nothing I can do for you because it's the system itself that's bad and they know it'," Banks explained.
Several folks have told TMJ4 that they believe HACM installed a faulty HVAC system at the start.
"We've heard it from the same sources he's talking about, as well as folks who were involved with the construction of this building, that it wasn't done properly from the beginning. HACM knows that," Common Ground Executive Director, Jennifer O'Hear, said.
O'Hear and her team at Common Ground, a local non-profit, have been helping HACM residents for years address issues. She said HACM needs to be held accountable.
It's an issue, Legal Aid Attorney, Luke Dremel, said is written into state law.
"Is HACM responsible for fixing this problem," Jenna Rae asked.
"Yes they certainly are. It's their responsibility under the ward of habitability, which has been around for a long time in common law, and then just under our landlord-tenant laws, they are also responsible for these types of issues," Dremel explained.
We asked HACM's president, Willie Hines, to talk with us about these problems.
An open records request shows his schedule was wide open all day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
His office sent us this statement instead:
"The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee’s HVAC vendor is currently addressing heating functionality concerns in two of the 60 units at its Victory Manor property and will promptly resolve any issues. In the rare event that the temperature in a resident’s apartment falls below the minimum HUD-required level of 68 degrees, the resident is provided with an electric heater until the issue is fixed. Residents at all HACM properties should always contact their respective property management office during business hours or HACM’s 24-hour Public Safety dispatch center after hours if they have concerns about the temperature in their units, and HACM will swiftly address any issues."
In the meantime, people who live at Victory Manor, are stuck in the cold.
"It's gonna be very cold. We need our heat right now," Ramsey said.
"They shouldn't have no problem fixing the heat in this building. They don't have no problem taking my money every month," Banks echoed.
TMJ4 also reached out to the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS). As of January 1st, DNS has the ability to inspect HACM properties.
We have not heard back.
Link to article here.