CLEVELAND — As temperatures in Northeast Ohio reach some of the coldest since Christmas of 2022, some residents at the Boulevard Terrace apartments on Detroit Avenue said they've had little to no heat.
Deborah Rodriguez said she has experienced issues with her heat for months but has been without it since Friday.
“It's ice cold. There’s nothing coming out. Nothing,” Rodriguez said as she pointed to her baseboard heater.
The thermostat in her house Monday morning showed 59 degrees. She said it’s an inconvenience that’s grown into a serious concern for her and her two children.
"I have two space heaters. I have one heater in our room, and we've been camping out in my room,” Rodriguez said. “And then I have a slightly larger one that's trying to keep the house warm so pipes won’t explode."
Antoinette P. also lives at Boulevard Terrace. She said calls to the management company have yet to go anywhere.
“Why is they not doing their job?” Antoinette said.
Kayla Taylor also said she’s been dealing with inconsistent heat for months.
“One minute my heat want to work, (the) next minute it’s out,” Taylor said.
News 5 spoke to a half-dozen tenants who said they currently have either little heat or no heat.
“I put my stove on 500,” Taylor said. “Then once you get a nice little heat going on, I turn it down to like 170 so at least it keeps it like a little heat inside."
Using a kitchen stove, electric or gas, is not advised. Firefighters, the Red Cross, FEMA and others state that a kitchen stove should not be used to heat a home due to the risk of a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Taylor said she tried using an electric heater, but it tripped the breaker in her unit.
Residents said they want clear answers on the problem and what’s being done to address it in the short and long term.
“Just because we live in low-income housing doesn’t mean they have to treat us like we’re less than,” Rodriguez said.
Residents said J&S Management was their old property management, but it’s now Beacon 360 Management.
News 5 called and emailed both companies but could not reach anyone on Monday.
However, Maloney noticed Space Comfort Co., a heating and cooling company, at the apartment complex.
The company was able to provide information on their involvement in trying to fix the situation. They said they’re in the final stages of getting a new boiler up and running, which involved excavating the parking lot for new pipework.
Space Comfort said if all goes according to plan with the gas company, the system should be operating by Tuesday.
They said apartment management contacted them in late October after a sewage issue caused flooding that damaged three boilers in the apartment complex's basement. Space Comfort said one boiler was salvaged, but not having all three working is why some residents experienced heating issues.
Rodriguez anxiously awaits having heat again and said she wants better communication and transparency from the apartment management company.
"We're trying to keep our kids warm and it's just like… give us an answer… like something.” Rodriguez said.
