HARLEM — Tenants of a city-owned apartment building who complained they had no heat or hot water in mold infested homes now say repair work is doing little more than putting a band-aid on the problems.
The residents of the 161 W. 140th St. building rallied last week, complaining of “life-threatening” conditions including a broken boiler and general neglect.
The city visited the 72-unit building after DNAinfo New York highlighted the problems and workers from the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development began treating mold and fixing the leaking roof and broken boiler.
But the tenants are worried the repairs will only fix the problems short term.
“HPD is still not addressing what we need,” said Yvette Rivens, one of the tenant leaders in the building. “There’s still apprehension from HPD. This is going to go on for a while.”
Elsia Vasquez, the founder of tenant advocacy group Pa’Lante which helped organize residents, said the repairs must be “sustainable.”
“Patch-up work is what got us in this situation,” she said.
The building is currently in the pipeline to become a part of the city’s Housing Development Fund Corporation, a program designed to give low-income tenants an opportunity for home ownership.
An HPD spokeswoman said the agency conducted immediate repairs to make sure the building had heat and hot water restored and will follow up with additional assessments.
"In the interest of resolving heating issues quickly, HPD took steps to repair the boiler. There is still an evaluation process underway to remediate other issues in this building," the spokeswoman said.
"Our primary focus is on the residents of this building, ensuring their essential services are operational and that the building remains a safe and healthy environment for these families. Our work will continue to do just that."
