Lawsuit: No heat at Atlantic City's largest public housing complex
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- Tenants are frustrated dealing with the lack of heat and hot water at the largest public housing complex in Atlantic City. They voiced their concerns during a special meeting at City Hall that began at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Tenants say they've been complaining about the problem for years, but every time it gets fixed, the heat and hot water go out again.
Unique Johnson has been living at Stanley Holmes Village in Atlantic City for the past six years.
"We never lose heat or hot water in the summertime nor springtime," Johnson said. "It's always once it gets cold."
Johnson says the heat at her apartment went out for three days last week, starting on Nov. 1. It then came back on for five days before going out again around Thanksgiving.
She says the heat's been back on since Sunday, but she fears it's just a matter of time before she loses it again.
"We got to take our kids elsewhere to bathe because we don't have no hot water," Johnson said. "As you guys can see, I got pots on my stove right now because over Thanksgiving, we had to boil hot water and pour the hot water into the sink for us to even wash or do anything we had to do over the holiday break, which was crazy."
Now seven tenants have filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic City Housing Authority.
Olga Pomar with South Jersey Legal Services represents them.
"My clients were living without heat and hot water and the temperatures were dropping to below freezing," Pomar said. "So that's when they filed the case on an emergency basis saying you know, the Housing Authority needed to immediately fix it and they needed to provide them temporary housing if they couldn't fix it immediately."
City Councilmember Kaleem Shabazz hosted the meeting Tuesday so residents can speak up.
"They have deplorable conditions, which has led me to say we cannot allow the situation to go on," Shabazz said.
Tenants say they're also dealing with mice, mold, mildew and an overall lack of maintenance.
Congressman Jeff Van Drew is asking the Housing Authority to reimburse residents for their rent money for the month of November due to the lack of heat and hot water.
CBS Philadelphia reached out to the Housing Authority for comment but hasn't heard back.
