Heat a casualty in foreclosures

Tenants in some foreclosed Boston apartment buildings are living without adequate heat because the new landlords - mortgage companies often based in other states - have not repaired broken systems or paid for the delivery of heating oil.

Karla Herrera, who gave birth to a daughter Wednesday, has lived without heat in her Roxbury apartment since November, when the system broke. "Sometimes, I turn on the oven for 20 minutes for heat," she said in Spanish, speaking through an interpreter.

Some foreclosed buildings also lack electricity, or hot water, or even running water, and the tenants may have no one to call: The new landlords often fail to provide tenants with a contact number, as required by Massachusetts law. And when landlords can be reached, the response is often so limited - half a tank of heating oil, for example - that the problems recur within a few days.

City officials say they have dealt with a dozen cases in the last two weeks of utility problems at foreclosed apartment buildings. Michael Kelley, acting administrator of the city's Rental Housing Resource Center, said the numbers are rising as foreclosures pile up and temperatures drop.

He said the city is searching for ways to compel companies to fulfill their responsibilities as landlords. The city also is trying to persuade the companies to improve voluntarily. "It is a sad state of affairs," he said, "that it takes a government agency to reach out to a responsible party to get some action."

At Boston Medical Center, a growing number of children who live in foreclosed buildings are being treated for problems related to a lack of heat, hot water, or electricity, according to the hospital's legal aid clinic, the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children.

One malnourished child was living in a building without running water, making it hard for the mother to mix formula. A child with sickle-cell anemia was treated for pain after temperature fluctuations in an unheated apartment caused the disease to flare up. The medical center's emergency room has treated children whose asthma inhalers cannot be recharged because their apartments have no electricity.

State law prevents utility companies from suspending service in the winter months if a tenant can prove financial hardship. Ellen Lawton, the legal aid clinic's executive director, said that isn't always enough. "The law on the books says they can't, but they do," she said. "And then who do you go to to get it turned back on?"

Massachusetts requires landlords to heat apartments to 68 degrees by day and 64 degrees at night. But on a recent 25-degree morning, Herrera's apartment was comfortable only with a winter coat. The thermostat was broken. When the heating system was engaged, the vents blew cold air into the living room.

source: boston.com