Staten Island, NY – Since March 2021, an entire building in Staten Island’s Stapleton neighborhood has gone without gas. The subsidized housing on 181 Gordon Street has left nearly 100 families without access to their stoves for over eight months. While the residents have plenty of questions as to when the gas will come back on, they are unfortunately left unanswered.
As of now the only known reason for the shutdown was due to a service interruption operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). According to the NYCHA, a Local Law 152 inspection, which requires the periodic inspection of buildings’ gas pipe systems, was due in the spring and has caused an interruption to 96 apartments in the building. As of now they’re in the asbestos phase of the inspection but still are unclear of when the gas will be turned back on.
“We do not have a timeline or ETA for restoration because there are multiple partners and steps involved in the restoration process,” said a spokesperson for the NYCHA.
The organization has provided one hot plate and one slow cooker for each apartment in the meantime, but residents are arguing this is not enough. “If I want to cook dinner for the kids, I will start early in the morning and by the time they come home it’ll be cold for them. I have to use the microwave to heat up the food so they can have a hot meal,” Takisha Luckey told SILive.com. Luckey lives with seven of her own children as well her seven grandchildren in the building paying full rent every month despite having no access to gas.
“They showed no signs of repairing anything. You never see crews here to fix anything,” says another building resident told SILive.com. The NYCHA has claimed to be providing the residents with regular updates on the status of the building, but residents are saying otherwise. He also pointed out that some residents of the building have resorted to using barbecue grills to cook on their balcony.
An employee of the Stapleton Houses management office has also backed the claims of residents not hearing updates on the situation, stating that there has been very little discussion on what is happening other than that it has been months and they’re working on it. Residents say they are trying to relocate within Section 8 housing due to the conditions of their current building, but are being denied.
