Bed-Stuy tenants steaming over eight years without heat

A Section 8 building at 305 Decatur Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant is only beginning to have heat restored, eight years after Shinda Management took over the building.

Residents told DNAinfo that they have repeatedly complained about the lack of heat, and that a new heating system was finally installed in August. But warmth restoration continues to evade many residents.

A loan program that would finance the overhaul of the building’s heating system, along with other repairs, was discussed in a 2007 letter from the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The boilers of 305 Decatur Street were to be replaced, with work starting in January 2008.

“Apparently heat has been unevenly distributed based on the large volume variances in the sizes of different apartments,” an HPD official said in a Sept. 18 letter.

The building’s laundry and public rooms have also been locked since Shinda took over. The reason, Shinda told one resident after Congressman Hakeem Jeffries was enlisted to help their case, was related to drug activity. [DNAinfo] — Julie Strickland