Two-week wait for furnace repair ‘isn’t right’: Manitoba Housing resident

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This article was published 03/01/2019 (2791 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Lord Selkirk Park resident is accusing Manitoba Housing of leaving her and her young daughter in the cold over the holiday season.

Samantha Shaler, who has lived at the North End housing complex with her 11-year-old daughter for eight years, said she woke shivering on the morning of Dec. 21, after her furnace broke down in overnight.

“The house was about 13 degrees, so I phoned it in (to Manitoba Housing) right away. They sent a technician out that afternoon, and he explained there was a problem with the heat exchanger,” Shaler said Thursday.

“He also said the furnace was giving off extreme amounts of CO (carbon monoxide), so high that his reader couldn’t register it, but that it was all blowing outside. I assumed that meant it was going to get fixed – but it still isn’t.”

Shaler said she and her daughter left home for a few days around Christmas to visit family. She gave Manitoba Housing officials permission to enter the townhouse unit and repair the furnace while they were gone.

However, when she returned Dec. 30, Shaler said the furnace was still broken and her house was freezing. She again called for a technician, and Manitoba Housing sent one out the same day.

“The technician told me Manitoba Housing has to give his company approval for the work. He said when they put in the reports to fix the furnace, they were told the staff who have the authority to approve the repairs were on vacation,” Shaler said.

“They weren’t given a date when they’ll be back. He said he was given the impression there is more than one staff member who can approve repairs, but that they were all on vacation at the same time.”

A spokesman for Manitoba Housing confirmed Shaler’s furnace, as well as furnaces in four other units in the complex, are dealing with problems with heat exchangers.

However, the spokesman said the Crown corporation keeps employees on-call over the holidays, so vacations should not affect approval for emergency repairs.

“Over the holiday season, it did take longer than usual to get the parts and have them repaired, but the contractor left portable heaters for the unit while awaiting parts. The parts have arrived and repairs are scheduled for this week,” the spokesman said in a written statement.

The bottom line for Shaler, however, is rent-paying tenants shouldn’t be left without working furnaces for two weeks and counting in the middle of winter — especially when an emergency cold weather warning was issued for much of the province.

“I can understand it taking a day or two because of the holidays, but 14 days is a little much. They don’t care. This isn’t right. People shouldn’t have to live without heat in the winter,” she said.

“It’s frustrating and it’s not the first time I’ve had problems getting help from (Manitoba) Housing. It just seems to pile-on, and this is just the worst of it so far.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe