'We're all low income, but we're not 3rd-class citizens': Housing tenants wait week for heat, hot water
After a week without heat or hot water, Tina Hann says she's questioning her status in society.
"I've been very concerned, very stressed out," Hann, a resident of public housing, said Tuesday.
At the time Hann spoke to CBC News about her predicament, she said her family and neighbours had been huddled around space heaters for a week, boiling water for dishes and bathing.
She said communication from the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation was minimal, and she would have appreciated, if not a quicker fix, then at least more contact about the issue.
"Yes, we're all low income, but we're not third-class citizens," Hann said. "We have rights. We have families. We have a right to safe and adequate housing."
NLHC told CBC News in a statement Tuesday afternoon that it had repaired the furnace heating 11 units in Buckmaster's Circle and restored heat to the affected homes.
The housing authority said it immediately ordered parts for its broken furnace as soon as it was notified of the outage on Jan. 19. Officials knocked on doors to notify the tenants, sending an electrician to install three space heaters in each unit.
"Tenants were advised if there were any issues or concerns to contact staff. NLHC staff stayed in touch regularly with tenants during the week to keep them apprised of the situation," the statement said.
The NLHC later said it had, in fact, been advised by its contractor that the parts would take a week to arrive. It formally apologized to the tenants and said NLHC would reimburse any additional costs.
"Normal corporate protocols should have ensured access to alternate temporary accommodations until the furnace unit was repaired," the corporation said in a statement Wednesday.
'Lack of respect'
NDP candidate Jim Dinn, canvassing in the neighbourhood Tuesday, said a teacher had contacted him, worried that students were missing class because they couldn't shower or wash their clothes.
Dinn said residents should have been offered more than space heaters, which he said are "fine for spring, maybe summer, the fall."
"But as you can see, in wintertime it's just an unacceptable solution. I think something else could have been done."
An offer for temporary housing in an extended stay hotel, he said, "should have been an option from the get-go," and added NLHC's response to the outage only added to a list of maintenance delay grievances he's heard from residents.
"I think it says a little bit about … a lack of respect for their dignity," he said.
"It's about looking after the people that live here. It's about investing in them, and I can tell you that's one area where government is lacking."
Hann, who's been living in her unit for seven years, said when the heat went out last week, nerves spiked.
"There was a storm looming, people were pretty scared.… Most of these houses have children in them," she said. A housing officer came around, and "basically told us 'if you have a place to stay, go stay there.'"
NLHC said it's reviewing its internal processes "to ensure these protocols are appropriately followed in future."
