ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Residents at one apartment complex in St. Pete shared their frustrations after they said they had been without heat and hot water for several days, even over the cold holiday weekend.
Robin Cuahonte would do anything to help her 81-year-old mother.
“Friday evening, she told me that she didn’t have any hot water,” said Cuahonte. “I came over to walk her dog for her, and she said it’s cold in my apartment.”
Her mom lives in Presbyterian Towers in St. Pete and said that she hasn’t had heat or hot water since Friday night before the cold Christmas weekend, and now, she’s at a hotel.
“She’s upset. She’s beside herself,” said Cuahonte. “She’s just been uprooted from where she left to move here, and now, she’s been uprooted again.”
Presbyterian Towers in St. Pete is a low-income apartment complex for seniors 62 and up. Management explained late Friday evening, the boiler that provides heat and hot water to the building stopped working and that crews diagnosed the problem to be the circuit board on the boiler controller.
“These people are low income. They don’t have money to put out and then be reimbursed,” said Cuahonte. “Some people do, some people don’t. Some people don’t have any family.”
“I know it’s frightened some of the residents, and they’re not that mobile,” said Kate Houser.
Houser also lives in the building and said the situation has been extremely frustrating.
“If you’re 80 plus or 85 and you’re in a room with the temperatures that you have right now, that’s bad," said Houser.
Building management said the timing of the long holiday weekend delayed finding the replacement board, adding it’s been located and should be at the community Tuesday afternoon.
By Tuesday evening, management told ABC Action News the new circuit board is installed and that the boiler is working properly.
Still, families hope plans are in place for the future.
“Things happen. Mechanical things happen,” said Cuahonte. “It’s all in the way you handle things, and this was not handled properly.”
Leaders with Presbyterian Homes & Housing Foundation of Florida, Inc. provided this statement Tuesday morning about the situation:
"Late Friday evening, the boiler that provides heat and hot water to the building stopped working. The maintenance technician that was "on-call" went to the community immediately to determine the problem. We also had two well respected boiler repair companies on site. They diagnosed the problem to be the circuit board on the boiler controller.
Unfortunately, the timing of the long holiday weekend delayed finding the replacement board but it has been located and should be at the community this afternoon!
We offered reimbursement for alternate accommodations and provided space heaters to those who wanted to stay in the building.
Staff has been available around the clock and the average apartment temperature has been around 70 degrees."
