Thousands in NYC Public Housing Went Without Heat on Coldest Day of the Year

Thousands of residents in New York City public housing were without heat or hot water Monday, the coldest day of the year with temperatures in the single digits, the New York Daily News reports. Housing Authority tenants bundled up to fight bone-chilling temperatures as low as 4 degrees and were forced to use unsafe methods to stay warm. Carol Miles, who lives in the Bronx’s Sedgwick Houses, told the News that she kept the stove on all day to combat the cold. “See the ice over there?” said Miles, 83, pointing to icicles forming inside the apartment. “The wind last night, I’m telling you—these windows, I thought they were going to come out. The windows are no good. Period.” While NYCHA began a coat drive for some of its residents, Miles’ son Christopher told the News the agency had done little to help tenants like his mother. “We’ve been complaining for over a year,” said Christopher, 54. “We’ve had the stove on all day today. I woke up early today—I woke up because it’s freezing… A lot of times, when there’s a three- or four-day weekend like this, we get no hot water. Or no heat.” Conditions in city housing are so bad that the Justice Department filed suit to get them corrected.