JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax is working to get answers for seniors who say they are living without hot water.
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“The water is very, very cold here in the building,” said Senior citizen Pat Conlin.
That’s because for Pat Conlin, this senior living facility, The Towers of Jacksonville, has been without hot water for days.
Mary Wickfield has the same complaint.
“Days and days of having to brush your teeth, wash your face, and clean important areas with cold water,” Wickfield said.
The residents shared with us that management told them the building’s boiler broke down stopping the hot water.
Management sent out a letter stating that the part to fix it is being shipped from Tennessee. They also mentioned that hot water should return sometime on Monday.
But they said that doesn’t help right now.
“I put a pot on the stove, made some hot water, and took care of the most important parts,” Wickfield said.
According to its website, the building opened in 1972 and is for low and fixed-income seniors 62 years of age and older. Rents are subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Steve Appleby has been living in the facility for over eight years. He said this is not the first time he’s experienced hot water outages.
“For the last six months, there have been frequent boiler outages. I finally broke down and washed my hair in the sink with water I had to boil on the stove because I couldn’t stand it anymore, according to Appleby.
I emailed the owner of the building we emailed RetriRetirement Housing Foundation, a non-profit organization of 198 communities in 29 states, but never heard back.
As for Conlin, he says that residents “haven’t heard anything more from management.”
We went to speak with the property manager, but they left 10 minutes after we arrived, however, we tried getting in further contact. We have not heard back at this time. We will let you know their response on air and online.
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