BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Residents at Buffalo's Sedita Apartments, for senior living, have been without consistent heat and hot water since Saturday, forcing them to boil water for baths and sleep in coats and gloves, during the current bitter cold stretch.
The heating crisis has affected multiple Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority properties, with complaints also coming from Marine Drive Apartments, Belmont Housing and Stuyvesant Apartments on Elmwood Avenue. The problems have persisted since early December, according to residents who reached out to local media for help.
"We have water, but it's ice cold. You have to heat it up in the microwave or put it on the stove to boil it," said Arnetta Crome, who has lived at Sedita Apartments since the fall of 2025.
Regina Givens, a 20-year resident, described the desperate conditions.
"There was a time I had to go to bed with a coat and a hat on. Who does that?" Givens said.
The situation worsened on Wednesday night when a water pipe and radiator burst on the fourth floor, causing water damage that spread to the third and second floors. Three residents were temporarily relocated to a hotel but were initially sent home Thursday, before other residents advocated for them to receive another night of hotel accommodation.
Residents say their maintenance requests go unanswered, leaving them feeling neglected during the emergency.
"I've never even talked to anybody on the phone. I had left a message for my work orders. They don't answer the phone," Crome said.
Rosita Espada, a one-year resident, became emotional while describing her frustration.
"I'm an old lady asking for justice because with the rent, they go, on your door, but when you need them," Espada said through tears.
Gilbert Maldonado, who has lived in the building for nine years, pointed to ongoing structural problems that compound the heating issues.
"The wind hits my window and blows it off the hinges, so I end up taping it up with duct tape the windows where it's leaking into our apartment," Maldonado said.
Gillian Brown, executive director of Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, acknowledged the uncomfortable conditions but defended the agency's response efforts.
"I don't wanna minimize how uncomfortable it is. It is very cold outside, and I'm not saying people shouldn't complain, cause of course they should. They should call 311, frankly, before they call Channel Seven," Brown said.
Brown said BMHA has maintenance staff available around the clock.
"We have engineers and maintenance staff that are essentially either on duty or on call 24 hours a day," Brown said.
However, residents dispute the effectiveness of the maintenance response.
"When you put in a work order, they don't come when they say they're going to come because they claim they don't have enough people," Givens said.
BMHA manages 27 buildings and serves as the city's largest landlord while operating the oldest public housing stock in New York State, according to Brown.
Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope said staffing shortages should not excuse the maintenance delays. She noted that BMHA reported having 125 employees at a December 16 meeting, with about half working in maintenance.
"And of the 27 and 125 employees, they said at that December 16th meeting that half of them were maintenance workers, which says to me, 62, 63 individuals, you have enough people to work in every single building that you manage," Halton-Pope said. "You have not addressed it. That's disturbing to me."
NOTE: The meeting Halton-Pope is referring to is the City's Common Council Committee on Community Development meeting on Dec. 16, where she, along with other councilmembers question BMHA Assistant Executive Director Modesto Candelario about the lack of staff within BMHA.
At this meeting, Halton-Pope wrote a resolution directing the scheduling of a public hearing to address critical housing issues in the City, which lead to the January 21 hearing at the Erie County Public Library. Residents can be heard here.
