Penn Mathilda Apartments Residents Say Heat Is Broken
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Some people who live in Penn Mathilda Apartments in Bloomfield say they're cold. They say the heat has been working off and on for a while and they're worried with frigid temperatures approaching.
Action Housing owns the apartment building. They provide affordable housing to people throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. They say around 40 people live in the building, which houses a lot of veterans. One of those veterans says he's struggling to stay warm.
"The heat doesn't work, period. It says zero on it," he says.
He is fed up. He's lived in Penn Mathilda apartments for about three years and says he's tired of being cold. He wanted to remain anonymous.
"Heat some days it's cold and the summertime it's hot," he said.
He said he's been resorting to another method to keep warm.
"I turn the oven on. Open the oven door and turn the oven on. Electric oven," he said.
He's not the only one complaining about the lack of heat.
A woman's 65-year-old mom is too.
"Right now her heat is off," she said.
She didn't want to reveal her identity either, but she shared with KDKA how her mom has been getting by.
"They have been giving them heaters for their apartment because this is an ongoing situation. It's been going on for quite some time," she said. "With the temperature dropping to 3 degrees on Friday, I'm not sure what's going to happen to a lot of those who are in the cold."
Action Housing says there have been some heating issues in the building over time and recently received some complaints from residents. They say they passed out space heaters to keep residents warm in the interim and sent their heating and air conditioning contractor back to the apartment building Wednesday to see what's going on.
"I don't know why it's not working. But people are complaining about it. It doesn't make no sense being this damn cold up here," the Army veteran said.
Action Housing said the building is close to six years old. They say they'll do what they can to fix the units that aren't working, and if that doesn't solve the problem, they will replace them entirely.
Senior Property Manager Michael Demes said if residents continue to have heating issues, the first step is to call Penn Mathilda's maintenance line at 412-829-3910. If they don't get the help they need, he said to call him at 412-829-3910 and type extension 221.
