What to know
- A Toronto Community Housing resident says her Sherbourne Street building has been without consistent heat for days, with outages returning building-wide over the weekend.
- The resident says repeated calls to TCHC, building management, city officials and 311 led to “scripted” responses but no immediate solution.
- TCHC confirmed a boiler issue and said repairs are underway, adding that space heaters were distributed as staff works on a solution.
A Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) resident is urging the city to take action as her building has been without heat for days.
Aisha Murray, a resident at the Dan Harrison Complex on 251 Sherbourne St. in Cabbagetown says she has been facing on-and-off heating issues in her building for weeks.
The resident says heating first went off in her apartment on Jan. 17, but seemed to be restored after four days of contacting management and TCHC. However, the heating issues have returned over this past weekend, this time across the entire building.
Since then, Murray says she has been continuously reaching out to TCHC, her building’s management, city officials, and 311 for a solution, but says she has not received a concrete response.
“They tell you the exact same scripted responses when you call maintenance. So, they tell you they’re calling a contractor, and they’ll know within two to four hours to call them back for an update. Then, when you call them back, they tell you that they’ve accepted the ticket and they’ll be there soon,” she told Now Toronto on Wednesday.
Although she has managed the cold, Murray says she is concerned about the impacts the heating issues could have on her neighbours, which include families and seniors.
“I have a neighbour next door to me, and…I called him at 1 a.m. and he said to me that his legs were sore from chittering so much. And that made me sad because you shouldn’t be having legs that are chittering together in the middle of the night in coldness,” she said.
After days with no concrete answers or a permanent solution, the resident also took her concerns to social media, called on the city and building management to find a solution.
TCHC confirms repairs are happening
In an email to Now Toronto on Monday, a spokesperson for TCHC confirmed a boiler issue in the building over the weekend has affected several units, but said the repairs are already ongoing. The spokesperson also said staff have been knocking on residents’ doors to check in and provide space heaters for those in need while they work to fix the issue.
“In general, the loss of heating is always treated as an urgent repair priority, and we expect to have heating issues resolved within 24 hours.”
Murray also told Now Toronto heaters have been distributed only on Monday, after she took her complaints to social media. However, the resident says she is still frustrated over how long it took TCHC and management to respond and take action to provide relief to residents, and says she still hopes to contact officials about issues in the building.
“I feel they should all be investigated. Where is the rent money? Where is our tax money? Where is everything going?…Why are they just putting band-aids on bullet wounds? Like, it needs medical attention,” she added.
For now, Murray hopes to inspire other community housing residents in the city to speak out about any issues they’ve been facing and advocate for change.
“I can only do so much, so that’s why I keep telling everybody to do the same that I’m doing, to use your voice, start posting, start putting up all the horror stories that you’re encountering, because it gets seen.”
Meanwhile, TCHC says tenants who face any maintenance issues related to heating should reach out to their Client Care Centre.
