Freezing January temperatures left tens of thousands of New York City residents without heat or hot water, triggering a wave of complaints and putting pressure on Mayor Zohran Mamdani just weeks into his term. While some tenants faulted the city’s response under the new administration, housing officials pointed to enforcement efforts and deep-rooted infrastructure failures.

Interviews published by the New York Post detailed residents across several neighborhoods who said their buildings went extended periods without reliable heat or hot water during the coldest stretch of winter. The accounts described daily disruptions and makeshift solutions as temperatures dropped.

In Williamsburg, tenant Alex Hughes told the Post he had endured “over 40 days of no hot water over the last 11 months” and was then on “day eight or nine straight of no hot water,” saying he resorted to showering at a friend’s apartment.

Similar problems were reported in Astoria, where Nicole Pavez, a city planner, said the heat in her building had been failing almost every night throughout the month.

Residents of public housing described comparable conditions. Malik Williams, who lives at the Lehman Houses, told the Post that his apartment lacked heat for much of January and that he boiled water on the stove in an effort to warm his home.

According to Breitbart, approximately 80,000 people contacted the city’s 311 system in January to report a lack of heat or hot water, marking what it described as the highest monthly total ever recorded.

Separate data released by the city’s Housing Preservation and Development agency showed that, through Jan. 29, there had been 215,045 heat-related complaints during the current heating season, compared with 187,775 complaints at the same point last season.

Mamdani, who was sworn in on Jan. 1, has been pressed to explain how the city is handling emergency responses and enforcing heat regulations amid the surge in complaints.

The report also tied the spike in calls to the mayor’s housing agenda and his decision to appoint tenant advocate Cea Weaver to head the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. The appointment was announced on Jan. 1 alongside an executive action aimed at reviving and expanding that office’s role.

The New York City Housing Authority, which oversees the nation’s largest public housing system, said it maintains a 24-hour heat desk and emergency response operation and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in heating upgrades in recent years.

Even so, estimates contained in city and NYCHA documents place the cost of restoring the housing authority’s properties to a state of good repair at roughly $78 billion over the next two decades.

{Matzav.com}