Tens Of Thousands Without Heat In NYC During Deep Freeze

New York City tenants placed a record-breaking 80,000 calls to 311 in January 2026 reporting a lack of heat and hot water, the highest monthly total ever recorded, as a brutal cold snap exposed widespread failures across both private and public housing.

The surge in complaints came as temperatures plunged into the teens, with residents across the five boroughs reporting days — and in some cases weeks — without reliable heat or hot water. Tenants interviewed described living conditions they said were unsafe and unlivable, accusing Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration of failing to respond adequately during one of the coldest stretches of the winter.

Since the start of heat season on Oct. 1, the city has logged approximately 215,045 heat-related complaints to 311 and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), already surpassing the 187,775 complaints recorded during the same period last winter, according to city data.

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Alex Hughes said conditions in his building deteriorated so severely that he temporarily moved into a hotel. He reported more than 40 days without hot water over the past 11 months, including more than a week straight during January’s freeze. Hughes said he was forced to walk through snow and ice to shower at a friend’s apartment.

At 491 Keap St., residents said their building went weeks without hot water and days without heat during the winter months. Hughes described the property as effectively abandoned, with no consistent heat, trash removal, or building maintenance. Tenants later learned the building owner had failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in utility bills, despite residents continuing to pay rent.

Another tenant in the building, Karlyn Murphy, said she resorted to boiling water just to bathe and wash her face. During the coldest days, she said she boiled water to warm her feet after being outside, calling the situation a breaking point for residents.

In Astoria, Queens, Nicole Pavez said her building’s heating system routinely shut off overnight during sub-freezing temperatures. She reported waking up in the middle of the night cold and relying on layers, blankets, and space heaters to stay warm, despite concerns about safety. Pavez also said she dressed her dog in sweaters indoors, fearing the cold could affect his health after a previous bout of pneumonia.

Public housing residents reported similar conditions. At the Lehman Village Houses in the Bronx, tenants said apartments went without heat for much of January. Malik Williams, who has lived in the complex since 2009, said residents boiled water on stoves and used portable heaters to stay warm, with heat only restored late in the month. Another resident, Juanita Arnold, said she went three months without heat from October through December, calling it unprecedented in her 15 years living at NYCHA.

Geraldine Williams, a Lehman Houses resident since 2009, said her apartment was without heat for about a week during the recent cold snap and that tenants received no compensation despite paying rent on time.

Under city law, landlords are required to maintain indoor temperatures of at least 68 degrees during the day and 62 degrees overnight between Oct. 1 and May 31. Tenants say those standards are often violated overnight, when enforcement inspections are less likely to occur.

City officials maintain that enforcement efforts are ongoing. An HPD source said that since Jan. 22, approximately 12,000 original heat complaints have been closed, either through inspections or tenant confirmation that service was restored. That figure represents a fraction of the nearly 80,000 complaints logged in January alone.

The crisis has intensified scrutiny of Mayor Mamdani’s housing agenda, including his appointment of housing activist Cea Weaver as the city’s tenant protection czar. Mamdani has also been called before the City Council to answer questions about the city’s emergency response during the cold snap.

NYCHA officials say they operate a 24/7 heat desk and emergency response system and have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in heating infrastructure upgrades. Still, the authority faces an estimated $78 billion repair backlog, highlighting the scale of the challenge as winter conditions persist.

In a statement, Matt Rauschenbach, Deputy Press Secretary of Housing at City Hall, said the administration is reviewing enforcement of the Housing Maintenance Code through the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. For residents enduring freezing temperatures inside their homes, however, relief has often come too late — or not at all.

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