BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Residents at Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority properties have been left without power and heat during a stretch of dangerously cold weather, prompting concerns about conditions in the city's public housing system.
The Stuyvesant Apartments on Elmwood Avenue and the Marine Drive Apartments near Canalside have been the focus of resident complaints about little to no heat in their units. I first visited both properties on Wednesday after residents reached out to our station about the heating problems.
Jazz, who has lived in the Stuyvesant Apartments since 2016, said the outage made sleeping nearly impossible.
"It's been terrible. I couldn't even hardly sleep," she said.
The resident, who lives in a handicap-accessible unit, described the challenging conditions during the power outage.
"No electricity, no heat, no stove," she said. "Our apartments are freezing cold. I'm in a handicap apartment. And I think that they should really focus on that."
WATCH: Residents at Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority properties endure stretch without heat during extreme cold
The BMHA told me on Wednesday that the issues had been resolved. However, residents contacted us again on Thursday morning with continued complaints about the lack of heat during what has been the coldest stretch of the year.
When I brought these ongoing complaints back to the BMHA today, Executive Director Gillian Brown acknowledged the challenges facing the housing authority.
"Here's the thing, Jeff. We are the city's largest landlord and we have some of the oldest public housing stock in the state of New York. We as the largest landlord, get the largest number of heating complaints and they are perfectly valid, people are cold, it's very very cold outside."
When I asked Brown about the long-standing issue of old buildings and what short-term measures are being taken to keep residents safe, he outlined the authority's response protocols.
"We monitor conditions outside. We check these boilers, especially in buildings with large boilers. We check these systems as frequently as we can. We do preventative maintenance during the spring time months to make sure that things aren't going to fail, and we have engineers and maintenance staff that are on duty or on call 24 hours a day."
Brown added that when an apartment becomes unhabitable, the authority moves residents to somewhere "protected." Brown said Thursday afternoon that the heating issues at both buildings have been resolved. He reminds residents to reach out to the BMHA to file a work order for any future complaints.
WATCH: Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority residents continue to voice frustration over heating issues
Buffalo Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope expressed concern about the conditions residents are facing.
"It's not acceptable at all," Halton-Pope said. "No one should be living in those conditions. You have vulnerable individuals. And when we are speaking of some of these...these are low-income housing so resources are already limited as they are."
Halton-Pope acknowledged that heating system failures can happen during extreme weather conditions but emphasized the need for immediate solutions.
"I'm fair enough to say that these things happen," Halton-Pope said. "It could be that whatever produces is covered in ice of some sort. What are you doing for the tenants now, until you remedy it?"
These latest problems come just one week after the Buffalo Common Council held a public hearing where residents voiced frustrations with housing leadership about deteriorating conditions at city-owned public housing properties.
The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority has faced ongoing scrutiny for months regarding maintenance and living conditions across its properties.
