ST. LOUIS – Some residents of Washington Apartments in St. Louis can’t get away from the frigid temperatures, and dozens of residents are desperate to get the heat turned on.
Residents said with the windchills dropping below zero earlier in the week, they decided to check on their neighbors.
“We said, ‘Let’s walk around the building and go door to door to check on the seniors and check on the other residents to see if they have heat,’ It’s 23 units with no heat,” resident Tissa Taylor said.
Taylor found ice forming on the windows in one neighbor’s apartment.
“I can’t use my bedroom. I have to sleep by the front door, by the oven, just to keep warm,” resident Rodney Mason said.
He reached out to the property management for help.
“It’s just that we don’t have no help, and when we ask for help, it feels like we’re complaining. I’m not trying to complain because that would make everyone else upset,” Mason added.
Another apartment has a hole in the ceiling. Residents are doing everything they can to stay warm.
“It is cold. I literally had to leave everything on, like the heaters on my stove, even boil some water to keep warm. It was just so cold,” Jaleea Feeherty added, who has also reached out to property managers. “Multiple times—I even asked them to have maintenance come and take a look; still no help.”
Some residents said they haven’t had heat in two years. Taylor’s biggest concern is the number of seniors sitting in their apartments without heat.
“It’s sad. I want to open up my one bedroom just so they can get in, just so they can get warm, and it’s like they’re still not doing anything,” she said.
FOX 2 reached out to the property management for comment, but they declined. The Alderman said the company that owns the apartment building is out of Manhattan Beach, California.