'It's like ice in here': residents in N.J. housing complex complain of heating issues

JERSEY CITY -- With temperatures expected to stay largely below 20 degrees again today, some residents in the Booker T. Washington Housing complex are preparing for another frigid night.

A number of tenants in the city-run complex, who wish to remain anonymous, told The Jersey Journal heat often goes out in their apartments for hours.

Sometimes they spend the night without heat.

"I have to keep the oven on," said a 78-year-old woman who lives with her daughter and young granddaughter. "Sometimes it's like ice in here. It's pathetic."

One man walking outside bundled in a heavy winter coat said sometimes he is forced to wear his winter clothes indoors.

"I walk around the house like this!" he said.

The complex, between Fremont and Colden streets adjacent to Gateway Field and County Prep High School, is one of a number of housing complexes in the city operated by the Jersey City Housing Authority, an autonomous city agency.

Many of the residents interviewed have been living in the complex for years and have said this is an ongoing problem.

"We've had cold days before this, too, and still we've had problems," said one 79-year-old woman. "I sleep in my long johns, I don't have a choice."

Meanwhile, residents say an emergency hotline number for residents of the complex is left unanswered.

Multiple calls made to the hotline by The Jersey Journal were not answered

In an phone interview, Stephen Cea, the acting Executive Director of the JCHA, said there have been problems with the heating since the complex installed a new boiling system.

Longtime residents confirmed that heating has been sporadic since the boiler system was installed -- sometime after Hurricane Sandy in late 2012, they said.

In 2014, the JCHA began an ongoing process to replace an antiquated boiling system and "rectify" a heating situation in the complex that had left some buildings without sufficient heat.

Since then, engineers have worked to revamp the system and modernize it by adding "a state-of-the-art boiler and hot water system," Cea said.

The new system, he said, is supposed to keep the temperature at around 70 degrees whenever it drops below 55 degrees outside.

But "there's still a few things that have to be done," he said, adding that there has been an issue with the system lowering the temperature for certain buildings at night.

"That was an issue that was addressed and fixed and as of Wednesday we heard the same issue (had been occurring)," he said. "Since then I've been dealing with my in-house engineer, my regional manager and the company that installed the boilers and we're getting to the bottom of the issue."

Cea said he has been in direct contact with leaders of the residential board of the complex and has been trying to tackle the issue. He also confirmed that engineers will be on hand on Thursday, Jan. 11, to check the system and do heat testing for apartments.

"Do I think there are some problems there? Yes," he said. "But no one should be without heat, so I've got to get to the bottom of some of these things. But rest assurred we are doing everything we can."

He added: "I promise you on 9 a.m. Monday morning that hotline will be fixed.