Tenants at one building in East Harlem are struggling to get by without basic services. NY1's Susan Jhun spoke with some anxious for action.
"No heat, no cooking gas and no hot water," said tenant Robert De Jesus
That's a triple whammy for De Jesus and his elderly parents who have been without all three essential services for more than a month now.
"It's very frustrating for me to see them suffer like this," he said. "They're my parents, they're elderly. When it gets really cold, I bundle them up, I try to keep them warm.
The distressed tenant says he and his ailing parents have been given no notice of what's going on since a gas leak was detected a month ago and gas was shut off to his six-floor building.
In the meantime, De Jesus uses an electric burner and a space heater but worries about safety and the cost of keeping warm.
"The electric bill is going to go very, very high," he said.
After De Jesus reached out to NY1 For You, we tried repeatedly to contact El Barrio Operation Fight Back, a non-profit which owns and manages the building. None of our requests for comment were answered.
We then contacted The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and found the agency is working with the owner to expedite the process. HPD’s Emergency Repair Program will step in, if the owner is not actively working to correct the issue.