WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 3, 2022 7
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Queens electeds tour Woodside Houses after several
residents complain about lack of heat, gas, hot water
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Queens lawmakers gathered
at the New York City Housing
Authority’s (NYCHA) Woodside
Houses on Thursday, Jan. 27,
to call on the agency to restore the
heating plant that had been damaged
as a result of Hurricane Ida in
September.
Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, Councilwoman
Julie Won, state Senator Jessica
Ramos, Deputy Queens Borough
President Ebony Young and others
toured the building after numerous
complaints of no heat or hot water
during the cold months.
New York City Housing Authority
(NYCHA) residents are awaiting
funding from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and
the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) to repair
the damage. In the meantime, residents
have been relying on mobile
boiler units that have reportedly
not provided adequate heat.
“NYCHA had months to prepare in
advance to repair the heating plant
at Woodside Houses. Heat outages
during the coldest months are unacceptable
— residents are left with no
choice but to use dangerous space
heaters or stovetops to keep themselves
warm,” Won said. “NYCHA
should release a long-term solution
instead of unreliable mobile boilers.
FEMA and HUD must make funding
the repair of the heating plant a top
priority for the health and safety
of everyone at Woodside Houses
immediately.”
The Woodside Houses consist of
20 buildings in the NYCHA complex
with nearly 2,900 residents.
Twenty hot water outages have been
reported since September, including
11 separate heating outages this
winter. According to Public Advocate
Jumaane Williams, who also
attended the walk-through, NYCHA
is “the worst landlord in the city.”
“The heating and hot water outages
at Woodside Houses are at once
entirely unacceptable and entirely
predictable given NYCHA’s history
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Council member Julie Won and others toured the Woodside Houses after
hearing numerous complaints of no hot water or reliable heat since Hurricane Ida. Photo provided by Won’s offi ce
of mismanagement,” Williams said.
“The city has an obligation to tenants
in Woodside Houses and at
NYCHA complexes across the city
to provide safe, quality housing by
immediately making these repairs
and providing tenants with protections
against freezing temperatures
until the heat is back on.”
In a statement, Richards mentioned
that during the colder
months, it is unacceptable that
residents cannot rely on hot water
and heat.
“NYCHA has had almost five
months to fix this problem, so far
without success. It needs to step up
to the plate and complete its heating
plant repairs so that Woodside
Houses residents have the reliable
heat and hot water they deserve and
are entitled to,” Richards said.
Currently, six apartments in the
Woodside Houses have been without
cooking gas since Nov. 5. Last
week, a group of tenants gathered
to protest the extensive outages.
One tenant and the treasurer of
the Woodside Houses Tenants Association,
Tomasine Reyes, is living in
one of the apartments without gas.
“It’s not fair,” Reyes said. “We pay our
rent. We do what we gotta do, but we’re
not getting the treatment we deserve
… in our apartments, in our living
grounds, in our whole development.
It needs to be cleaned up. It needs to be
repaired. It needs to be done now.”
NYCHA responded to the criticism
saying the agency spent over
$1.4 million in repairs on the Woodside
Houses boiler since Ida.
“Tropical Storm Ida damaged the
main boiler at Woodside Houses
after it was submerged in over five
feet of water, causing a hot water
outage for tenants,” said a statement
provided by NYCHA. “NYCHA has
since installed two mobile boilers
and a third was delivered to the development
after the past two weekends,
where there were extreme
cold temperatures. The boilers are
expected to be brought online in
February and once they are online,
the mobile boilers will be taken
offline in stages.”
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