NYCHA seniors lose heat, hot water and elevator access for longer stretches 

Last September, 69-year-old Sonia Madrano was heading back to her apartment when the elevator in her senior-only NYCHA development suddenly stopped. It next took a short drop and then got stuck between two floors. She was trapped inside for 12 terrifying minutes. 

“It was a terrible experience that had never before happened to me, and that I hope will never happen again,” Madrano said in Spanish. 

For many older adults in NYCHA buildings, losing heat, hot water, or elevator access isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a serious risk. Earlier this year, more than 400 NYCHA residents endured days without heat or hot water during a brutal cold snap, Gothamist reported. At one senior-only development, tenants resorted to heating their apartments with stoves. 

Unfortunately, data shows seniors in NYCHA housing often endure the longest outages. Those in senior-only developments are hit hardest, followed by residents in partial senior housing (meaning developments where some buildings are set aside for seniors). This makes older NYCHA residents especially vulnerable as extreme weather events become more frequent. 

Why NYCHA seniors are the most vulnerable

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health analyzed outages from 2020 to 2022. They found how heat, hot water and elevator outages were longer in senior-only NYCHA developments. 

We already know older people are already more likely to have issues regulating their temperature, says Nina M. Flores, a doctoral student that was part of this research team. Same with mobility issues, which can make elevator outages a bigger problem. 

There’s also a larger burden of comorbidities overall among older people, which any of these outages could exacerbate. This includes conditions like heart disease and chronic respiratory issues. That’s on top of the health disparities facing NYCHA residents overall, who have higher rates of conditions like asthma and are largely low-income people of color. 

Why NYCHA residents overall are more vulnerable to outages

These same types of outages are also more common in NYCHA developments overall than in other buildings in the city, according to 311 data. During a recent meeting, officials said the NYCHA, which serves over 400,000 people, lacks the funding for full-scale repairs. According to representatives, the agency has an estimated $78 billion in capital needs and only $8.2 billion in funding. So instead of full replacements, the NYCHA often resorts to patchwork fixes. That means heating and plumbing failures keep happening, with seniors feeling the impact the most.

In a statement, NYCHA said it has made progress since the 2019 HUD Agreement, improving heat service and elevator performance: “The average restoration time for heat outages at senior developments is just over six hours, down from over 30 before the HUD Agreement,” a spokesperson wrote.

But officials acknowledge there’s still a long way to go to ensure reliable service: “As we work to keep up with the mounting needs of our buildings, we continue working to improve service to residents and the quality of life for all who call NYCHA home.”

Flores created an NYCHA outage dashboard, which uses information from NYCHA’s online portal, as an easy-to-access advocacy tool. The goal is for NYCHA residents and advocates to leverage it to call for critical upgrades to reduce service interruptions — and for NYCHA to prioritize complaints from some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, according to Flores. 

For instance, according to the most recent data from the NYCHA outage dashboard, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2024, residents in senior developments experienced the fewest number of hot water outages, but they lasted the longest in senior-only developments. The average duration was 9.67 hours, compared to 7.47 hours long for developments that don’t have buildings set aside for seniors.

Taking refuge in lobbies and four-blanket solutions 

NYC’s heating season begins in October. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 1, 2024, the data shows that senior-only developments saw the lowest frequency of heat outages, but they were the longest lasting. The average duration was over 14 hours, compared to about eight hours long for developments that don’t have buildings set aside for seniors.

Maria Pacheco, who is 83 years old, lives in UPACA 6, a NYCHA development in Manhattan. As president of its tenants’ association, Pacheco leads educational workshops. While she is used to trekking around the city for community meetings, she says the heating issues in her building have recently put a dent in her lifestyle. 

“It stopped me from being as active as I usually am,” Pacheco said. “It’s so cold in here, I’m afraid to go out in the cold.”

She has been advocating for new boilers for her and her neighbors for years. While the situation might not be considered a heating outage, Pacheco says the old boilers in the building don’t sufficiently heat the apartments. 

Because it’s tough to get warm in her home, Pacheco can be found in warmer common spaces in the building. When she spoke with Epicenter in late January, she was in the lobby helping other tenants complete their tax forms. She was also waiting on repairs for an electrical socket in her kitchen. A tenant nearby was telling Pacheco she uses four blankets to stay warm in her apartment. 

They hold out hope for quicker service soon: Their development is transitioning to private management, which will have an office next door, this spring. 

Navigating outside needs with elevator outages

Elevator outages make it harder for seniors to count on them for lugging their supermarket buys, or simply getting around if they have mobility issues.

From Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2024, the data shows elevator outages overall impacted about 84% residents in senior-only developments and 94% of those in mixed senior developments. Meanwhile, for developments where no buildings are set aside for seniors, overall, elevator outages affected 76% of residents. 

Madrano says it’s “very common” for elevators in her building to be out of service or in repair, sometimes a couple times a month. But it helps that there are multiple elevators accessible. 

“I left right away — I didn’t even want to look at the elevator again,” Madrano said of the incident last fall. But since she lives on the sixth floor, she relies on the elevator on a daily basis. “You can’t let fear paralyze you,” she said. 

How to find help during and after outages

Food Access

For anyone 60 years and older having trouble getting groceries during an elevator outage, Citymeals on Wheels and Visiting Neighbors could give a hand. Volunteers can deliver up to your floor even when elevators aren’t working. 

You can also use your EBT card to pay for grocery deliveries through major retailers like Stop & Shop and Target, as well as online services like Instacart and Amazon. Some of these options might include service fees or same-day delivery fees, or otherwise be more costly than your local supermarket.  

Reporting Issues

NYCHA residents can report heat and hot water issues and emergency repair needs to the NYCHA Customer Contact Center. NYCHA residents who are under private management can report these problems to building management; if the issues persist, they can report it as an Apartment Maintenance Complaint.

Advocacy and organizing

If any tenants want to organize to advocate around issues like service interruptions, they can reach out to Community Voices Heard, a BIPOC-led power-building organization, here. They can also contact the Legal Aid Society here. The WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s NYCHA Working Group also meets the fourth Tuesday of every month, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The NYCHA Working Group gave Columbia researchers key feedback on the outage data dashboard. Overall, the group educates NYCHA residents and builds advocacy around service repair issues as well as mold, lead, and pests. You can contact lonnie@weact.org to get involved.

This post has been updated with a statement from NYCHA.

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