NYCHA offers $15 gift vouchers to residents who are unable to prepare Thanksgiving meals due to a gas outage
As the holiday season approaches, many NYCHA residents are worried about not having enough heat to prepare their Thanksgiving meals. Several of them have already expressed their concerns, saying that they may have to spend the day without proper heating. Dozens of families are affected, and they are hoping that the issue will be resolved soon so that they can enjoy the holiday season without any further disruptions.
As a response, the New York City Housing Authority is providing a $15 gift card to each resident.
Since July 17, numerous occupants residing in a NYCHA facility located in East New York have been unable to prepare meals due to the shutdown of gas supply to their stoves, as per their complaints.
Tenants received a phone message from an official stating that NYCHA will offer a 15-dollar gift card to every authorized household member due to the gas outage at their development.
Numerous inhabitants of the Long Island Baptist Houses in Brooklyn are feeling insulted by the proposal of a meager $15 gift card as compensation for the prolonged period of four months without gas to cook. Despite the provision of hot plates by NYCHA, they express their inability to prepare their Thanksgiving meals this holiday season.
They assert that hot plates only increase their electricity bills and are not useful for anything else.
A tenant shared their frustration, stating that it took them three hours to prepare white rice. They found it outrageous and reached out to the management office for a solution, only to be told that there was nothing that could be done about it.
According to the tenants, the heat they have is inadequate and insufficient. Additionally, they have raised other safety concerns that need to be addressed.
According to a statement from NYCHA, gas service interruptions and restoration work are crucial for public safety and require collaboration among various parties. This includes shutting off service, conducting necessary repairs, inspections, and coordinating with service providers to safely restore service as quickly as possible. At Long Island Baptist Houses, for instance, service was shut off due to a leak in the basement gas main and asbestos abatement was necessary before new piping could be installed. The processes to restore service are currently underway, and NYCHA urges residents who need assistance to contact the Customer Contact Center at 718-707-7771.
Some tenants expressed their apprehension about disclosing their identities or be shown on camera due to concerns about potential retaliation from the management.
One of the tenants expressed their frustration by saying, “We pay rent, we have lives – I have a job. This is extremely distasteful.”
When will the gas be turned back on? That was the question posed by Eyewitness News to the NYCHA management office in the local area.
One of the office workers declined to comment on the matter.
Investigative reporter Dan Krauth from 7 On Your Side has discovered significant delays in the city’s process of turning over apartments to new tenants.
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