The Legal Aid Society released documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request today which reveals that utility outages – heat, hot water and water – continue to plague New York City Public Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents, as reported by the New York Daily News.

For the last heat season, which lasted from October 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021, utility outages totaled 2,903 compared to 3,014 from the previous heat season, hardly a meaningful improvement.

“While NYCHA has made some improvements to mitigate utility outages, residents still suffer lapses in service on a daily basis,” said Lucy Newman, a staff attorney with the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society.

“This moment demands greater attention from Washington, Albany and City Hall, and we call on President Biden, Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams to allocate significant funding to address NYCHA’s capital needs, which is now tens of billions of dollars,” she continued. “Our neighbors in public housing should not have to continue to suffer these conditions, especially in the dead of winter.”