CINCINNATI — As temperatures drop below freezing, some tenants at a Roselawn apartment complex continue to deal with no heat. WCPO 9 News found out Monday the City of Cincinnati and its health department are now involved.
Bundled up wearing her winter gear, Willie Vinegar showed us how she's been living for the past eight days at Heirlooms of Cincinnati. She has been trying to stay warm with no heat in her apartment as a thermometer we brought showed the temperature was around 44 degrees.
"This is the ice box," Vinegar said as she pointed to the bathroom.
There's also no hot water in her apartment. When she turned on her bathroom faucet, there was discolored water trickling down the drain. While we were taking temperature readings in the bathroom, we noticed a cockroach in the bathtub.
"There's a nest," she said, pointing to the top corner of the bathroom.
To stay warm, Vinegar and her 20-year-old daughter huddle up in one room with a space heater and use a hair dryer to stay warm. She's also dealing with other problems like a kitchen with a broken oven.
When we asked her a question about how she's been able to get by, she broke down crying.
"It's hard because you feel less than a mother when you're in a situation like this because how can I have my daughter in this? There's really nothing I can do," Vinegar said.
Vinegar said she's been complaining for days about not having any heat and reported it to the property management office. She said they tell her they will send somebody out to fix the heating problem, and other issues she's been dealing with, but it never gets done. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, without any heat, she called WCPO for help.
We went to the main office and spoke with a woman who wouldn't identify herself, but told us they were in the process of fixing the heat. When we asked when it would be done, she didn't have an answer for us. We also asked her if they felt it was acceptable for their tenants to be wearing winter gear just so they could stay warm in their apartments. She stated that they gave everyone space heaters.
WCPO followed up by asking if it's acceptable for people to be waiting for eight days without any heat and no results. She then asked us to leave.
"Yeah, they've got to put her up in a hotel if they can't fix the heat," said Nick DiNardo, Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati.
DiNardo said the owners of Heirlooms of Cincinnati are involved with an ongoing lawsuit with his organization. He found out Monday the city sent inspectors out to the property, as well as someone from the city's health department.
"Unfortunately, there's been a lot of deferred maintenance here they've got a lot of work to do but as part of the plan, they'll be reporting to the court monthly informing them of the building orders that have been cleared," said DiNardo.
In 2022, WCPO was at the property as some tenants said they were facing wrongful eviction. Our story resulted in more tenants coming forward claiming they paid their rent but were facing eviction — even as their checks were cashed. Other tenants came forwardto complain about ongoing issues not being addressed.
We also reached out to the new property management company responsible for overseeing Heirlooms of Cincinnati, but we didn't hear back from them.
