Residents at Penn Mathilda Apartments say the heat is breaking – CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Some people who live in Penn Mathilda Apartments in Bloomfield say they are very cold. They say the temperatures have been running consistently for a while, and they’re concerned with the approaching frigid temperatures.

Action Housing owns the apartment building. They provide affordable housing to people throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. They say about 40 people live in the building, which is packed with veterans. One of those veterans said he was struggling to stay warm.

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“Heat doesn’t work, period. It has a zero on it,” he said.

He is fed up. He has lived in the Penn Mathilda apartment for about three years and says he is tired of the cold. He wants to remain anonymous.

“Be warm on some cold days and hot summers,” he said.

(Photo: KDKA)

He says he is using a different method to stay warm.

“I turned on the oven. Open the oven door and turn on the oven. he said.

He’s not the only one complaining about the lack of heat.

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So does the mother of a 65-year-old woman.

“Her heat is off now,” she said.

She also did not want to reveal her identity, but she did share with KDKA how her mother went through.

“They provided them with heaters for their apartment because this is an ongoing situation. It’s been going on for quite some time,” she said. “With temperatures dropping to 3 degrees on Friday, I’m not sure what will happen to many people who are in the cold.”

Action Housing says there have been some heating issues in the building over time and has recently received a number of complaints from residents. They said they had been running out space heaters to keep residents warm in the interim and sent their heating and air conditioning contractors back to the apartment building on Wednesday to see what was going on.

“I don’t know why it doesn’t work. But people are complaining about it. It doesn’t make any sense to be here in the damn cold,” the former soldier said.

Action Housing says the building is almost six years old. They say they will do what they can to fix the non-working devices and if that doesn’t solve the problem, they will replace them altogether.

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Senior Real Estate Manager Michael Demes says if residents continue to have heating problems, the first step is to call Penn Mathilda’s maintenance line at 412-829-3910. If they don’t get the help they need, he says call him at 412-829-3910 and enter extension 221.