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Elderly residents say Detroit apartment has been without heat for days

Posted at 9:44 PM, Nov 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-20 23:34:40-05

For several days residents in a downtown Detroit apartment have been feeling the cold bitter air.

They say they have no heat and keep getting excuses from the building management.

Management at the Kamper/Stevens building say they are working to fix the problem, but according to some of the residents I spoke with, they’re not working fast enough. 

Evangeline Isom uses a motorized wheel chair to get around.

“Every year the heat goes out,” she says. “This year it went out 11 days ago.”

Currently her apartment and several others don’t have heat.  So, her nights are spent either sleeping on the couch or in her motorized chair.

The apartment management sent out a letter, first on November 14, advising residents about a heating repair issue, then two more letters on November 16 and 20, telling them they’re still working on the issue and parts have arrived to fix the boiler.

We called the property manager ourselves. Our call went straight to voicemail.

Management gave Ms. Isom a space heater in the meantime while repairs are underway.

“They gave me this space heater, so I went and bought another one because this one is blowing my fuse,” she says.

Until the heating problem is fixed all these folks can do is wear more layers and pray the heat comes back on soon.

“Be honest with us about what is going on in this building, we actually really need to know that,” she says.

The folks I spoke with say they’re hoping the heat comes back on, especially with these colder temperatures not going away anytime soon.