PONTIAC, Mich. – Icicles on the outside, with barely any warmth on the inside. Local 4 was told that the case involved multiple North Hill Farms apartment complex residents in Pontiac.
“We just over there trying to stay as warm as possible,” said one anonymous resident.
“I’ve been up in this unit for three years. They come and mess with the temperature gauge right there. But come wintertime, turn it on like it’s on right now; I’m not getting any heat out of it. That leads me to turning my oven on and go buy a space heater, and I’ve been doing it now for the last three years,” said resident Anthony Teasely.
One resident said she hadn’t had heat in her place in over a year, and with temperatures diving below zero, it was too much for her and her two children to bear.
“I’ve got my own space heater, but after a while, a space heater went out after living here for so long without heat. So my kids are out there with the oven on. It’s a fire hazard. It’s carbon monoxide and stuff In the house. So, trying to keep them warm - they’re bundled up in there on the bed and stuff. They told me they can’t give me a space heater unless maintenance comes out and determines they can’t fix my baseboards, and then they’ll give me a space heater,” said Teasely.
Community Activist Dawn Hannah has been trying to get management to do something about the problem, but there has not been much help from management.
“I wanna see the owners and the management company be responsible with how they’re treating these people out here. My thing is - I don’t know if they feel if they’re low income or they can treat them any kind of way. And a lot of people aren’t educated about their rights, and they don’t have anyone to speak for them,” said Hannah.
It’s actually the largest complex in the district, and it belongs to Councilman Mikal Goodman, who says it’s unacceptable, calling out inspectors from the city to come take a look.
The city’s code enforcement manager said that it started receiving 33 low-heat calls this Tuesday alone.
“As someone who grew up on section 8 housing, who has lived in low-income, less than ideal conditions, it’s never great when people don’t have what they need. But it’s especially more annoying when it consistently happens to the same people,” said Goodman.
We tried to contact those in the rent office, who wouldn’t even let us into the building.
Instead, we were given the corporate number to independent management, who says today is the first they’ve heard of the issue.
“At the end of the day, I’m going in there; I’m complaining constantly. They’re in there telling me to hold on. They’re sending people out to fix the heat, but they’re not actually fixing it,” the anonymous woman concluded.
Only about six people are still without heat, but we’re told it should be restored by the end of the day.