No one expects to spend the winter holidays without a warm place to stay, but one London resident in a northeast side apartment building says she was left without proper heating for almost five days.
Following an electrical fire at an apartment building at 202 McNay St. on Christmas Eve, 62-year-old Sandra Keith spent most of the week in her third-floor unit without heat.
With overnight temperatures dropping to around -20 C this week, Keith said she called her building's emergency maintenance number multiple times every day. She said she was repeatedly told by staff that the heat had already been fixed in the building, or that it was being fixed.
"I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 6am in the morning freezing because it's -25 C outside with the windchill and I have no heat," she said. "They said it's fixed, just give it a couple minutes and the heat should be coming on. But it didn't... They've just been lying."
Keith said because of her medical conditions, which include heart disease, angina and emphysema, it's very hard for her to be in the cold for a long period of time.
"I'm not supposed to be in the cold, and I did explain that to them, but obviously they didn't care," she said.
Mona-Lisa Cassidy, a friend of Keith's, said she visited the apartment unit while the heat was off and couldn't believe how cold it was.
"It wasn't cool, it was freezing cold," said Cassidy. "I couldn't even stay in there. With my [arthritis] I can't handle the cold very well, and I couldn't even last two minutes."
Keith said she was eventually provided with a couple of portable space heaters by the building staff, however, they were no larger than a tea kettle and did little to heat her accommodations.
"When I slept on the couch, I slept with full socks, slippers, track pants, a t-shirt and a hoody with a blanket on me... I was frozen," she said. "I had no idea what to do. They had the cold weather warnings up, so I figured all the shelters would be all full."
Keith said there was nowhere else she could go.
"It breaks your heart when you find out she is sitting there crying her eyes out because she didn't know what to do," said Cassidy about her friend.
The apartment building on McNay St. is managed by the London and Middlesex Housing Corporation (LMHC), which provides subsidized public housing in the London-Middlesex area. The LMHC designates the McNay St. location as a "senior community" for people over the age of 55.
Keith said the heat was finally restored to her unit on Thursday, but she and Cassidy both said there were still other tenants who were without heat.
"[The other residents] are not saying anything about it. They've gone out and bought space heaters," Keith said. "People are afraid to say anything to housing because they intimidate you and they're afraid of being thrown out."
LMHC Director of Corporate Services Andrea Topham confirmed there are still tenants without heat and stressed those who require additional space heaters only have to call the facility's maintenance phone line to get them.
"We checked our records and there were no additional calls received to request extra space heaters," said Topham. "But we would provide folks with as many as they needed to make sure that they are comfortable. It is part of our standard operating procedure when something like this happens."
Topham said since the Christmas Eve electrical panel fire, LMHC has taken several steps to ensure tenants aren't left in the cold.
"We followed our usual protocols and procedures which include providing (tenants) with alternate heat sources. We also provided dinner for tenants who may have been effected by this," said Topham. "Electricians and staff were dispatched immediately to assess the damage and begin the repair and we put a fire watch in place to ensure everyone was safe."
LMHC issues a fire watch when an electrical panel has been compromised, requiring additional security be hired to watch over the building 24 hours a day to ensure tenant safety, Topham said.
It is unclear when heat will be fully restored to 202 McNay St. as maintenance staff are waiting for a replacement electrical panel to be shipped to them.
