Tenants at Bethany Park Towers say they were left without heat over New Year’s

KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) -- With single-digit temperatures moving through the metro this month, tenants at Bethany Park Towers in Kansas City, Kansas, have had to endure cold temperatures inside their units after being left without heat over New Year’s.

Several tenants told KCTV5 the temperature in their units barely hits 60 degrees during the day and dips at night. Sonya Buford has lived at Bethany Park Towers for nearly three years. After her heat went out, she resorted to using her stove to heat her unit, but that appliance also broke down.

“If I gotta live like this, I’d rather be out on the street. I’d rather go somewhere else than to pay my money living here,” said Buford.

Another tenant purchased a space heater and has been using that to keep warm, while others like Guadalupe Juarez are using several blankets at night.

By mid-afternoon Monday, Director of Housing Operations Elaine Stroud with the Kansas City, Kansas, Housing Authority showed up to provide tenants an update and salt the sidewalk. She offered “no comment” when KCTV5 asked her about the heat issues in the building. No one from the KCK Housing Authority responded by the end of business day Monday to multiple requests about the issue.

One tenant said crews were checking on each unit Monday afternoon.

“They [are] doing the best they can in there; a pipe busted is what happened. I saw it was on Facebook. Everybody was freezing, but it ain’t the first time. When a pipe bursts, you can’t do nothing but wait until they come and fix it.”