DETROIT (WXYZ) — As the feels-like temperatures dip into the negatives this week, multiple units at the Russell Woods Apartments in Detroit have not had heat since last Friday.
Tiffany Shoate has fibromyalgia, chronic pain that gets worse in cold temperatures. Her and about a dozen other tenants at the apartment complex have not had heat since the snow storm Friday. That's five days that she's had to use multiple space heaters and heat from her oven to stay warm.
“I use my stove in the morning just to take the chill off and then I go plug up my space heaters. I leave them on a little bit. I don’t like leaving them on all day because that’s a fire hazard," Shoate said.
Shoate and her 15-year-old son say they feel defeated. She has emailed management multiple times. The last response she received days ago notified her that they were working diligently to restore the heat. She hasn't heard from them since she's followed up this week.
"We're helpless in this situation," she said. “We just dealing with it.”
VEOT Group is the management company that oversees Russell Woods Apartments. The company is based out of Florida but manages over 200 properties in the Detroit area. 7 Action News reached out to the CEO, Arnoldo Vetencourt, to see why tenants were experiencing the issue.
Vetencourt said the company only took over management in June of 2023 and realized the old building needed a lot of maintenance. The boilers need updates, which is why the heating problems keep happening.
Vetencourt said maintenance will be on site Thursday to try to fix the issue.
“They tell me it hasn’t been updated in 10 years and we're doing the best we can," Shoate said. "I’m like, doing the best you can and we're freezing up in here is not doing anybody any favors.”
VEOT Group did deliver space heaters to the affected units on Wednesday.
"Sucking up tons of DTE power, I’m sure," tenant Bill Minto said.
Minto has also been relying on space heaters and his oven from warmth, a hazardous combination.
“During the day, I just turn on the oven to get the natural gas heat out of there," Minto said.
With repairs happening Thursday, tenants hope the heat returns within the next few days.
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