An apartment building with federally subsidized housing on Staten Island has been without heat and hot water for over a week as night-time temperatures dipped below freezing, amNewYork Metro learned on Thursday.
Residents of the North Shore Preservation Development — also known as Arlington Terrace — which is located at 55 Holland Ave. with other nearby addresses in Mariners Harbor, say it is so cold that they have to bundle up and stay out of the shower because the water has problems too: It is either boiling or freezing.
Carolyn Narducci, a 67-year-old tenant, said she wears four layers of sweaters daily and night to stay warm as parts of her three-story townhouse dipped to an alarming 22 degrees on several nights this week.
Narducci, who lives with her pup Haichi, said she made adjustments to deal with the cold. She dwells in only the lower level of her home, so everything she needs is close by.
“This is terrible,” she said. “I’m very sick. I have lupus, I had stents put in my heart. I’m on multiple medications and I’m on blood thinners so I’m already cold. But this is really cold.”
Her close-quarters arrangement comes easy to her since she has been recovering from a heart condition that had her in the hospital last year.
“I was making due because I was sick. We made downstairs sufficient enough– a studio,” Narducci, a widow who has lived in the building for 47 years, explained. “I bought good furniture, end tables, a day bed, a TV stand. But I can’t take a shower when it’s 22 degrees in the bathroom.”
Narducci said she called 311 and management multiple times to complain. Inspectors from the city’s Housing and Preservation Development (HPD)—which oversees the complex—went to Narducci’s apartment and gave two violations: one on Dec. 2 for inadequate heat and another on Dec. 5 for both inadequate heat and hot water.
The housing complex is one of many Mitchell-Lama sites in the city and state that provides affordable housing for middle- and moderate-income New Yorkers. Named after State Senator MacNeil Mitchell and Assembly Member Alfred Lama, the complexes are privately owned and managed.
Robert Vaccarello of R/Y Management, a Manhattan-based firm that owns the property and manages the middle-income and Section 8 housing complex for the HPD, told amNewYork Metro he is aware of the problem.
“We had the contractors there, we’ve been in all the apartments,” Vaccarello explained. ” We’re still having a problem in some of the apartments. We got most of them up and running now and we’ve been testing the heat.”
Vaccarello said his company replaced one burner last week, but they are still having a problem with the second burner at the 130-unit building within the complex that also includes several adjacent townhouses like Narducci’s.
“We’re trying to get parts for it,” he said. “Just like every other building in the city of New York that’s having problems this morning, it’s a problem.”
Vaccarello blamed a lack of contractors for the delay in fixing the heat.
“After COVID, you just don’t have contractors. They’re just not willing to come down and do the necessary repairs in the middle of the night,” he said, adding that he purchased space heaters for the affected units. “It’s a problem, but we are addressing it. We’re going to stay on top of it until it’s corrected.”
Others who live in the development include seniors and as well as families with newborn babies.
“There are other seniors here with no heat. I don’t know what they are doing to stay warm,” Narducci said.
Meanwhile, tonight’s temperature in NYC is expected to drop to 28 degrees.
