The Legal Aid Society called on the federal government to adequately fund capital projects at NYCHA and other public housing authorities after a FOIL disclosure revealed that heat and hot water outages continue to plague residents, reports NY1.

During the 2019 – 2020 heat season, 819 heat outages plagued NYCHA residents – which is an improvement from the previous year but still in violation of local and state laws.

In 2018, Legal Aid filed a lawsuit against NYCHA to refund residents’ rent who grappled with widespread outages. That lawsuit is currently pending in New York State Supreme Court.

“It’s good that they are in better compliance with what the law requires, which is adequate heat and hot water throughout the whole year. I am glad they are doing better and they need to do better still. What they really need is more money from the federal government,” said Judith Goldiner, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society.