AUSTIN (KXAN) — Residents in the Mount Carmel Apartments are going on a month with no gas or hot water since the winter storm.
Mount Carmel is a low-income housing complex. Residents there receive federal assistance, that goes toward rent. The apartment complex, owned by a company named Eureka, notified residents it could take up to 90 days until gas is fully restored.
Eureka company representatives told KXAN the gas was originally turned off because of a gas leak.
According to Eureka, the building has 50-year-old infrastructure, that was worn down more by the winter storm. Representatives said an underground main gas line caused multiple leaks.
When KXAN asked Eureka why it’s taking so long to get gas restored, it told us in an email: “After weeks of work, pulling permits, various pressurized testing, and working with multiple agencies and vendors we have now been advised that the entire underground gas pipeline cannot be repaired and must now be replaced entirely.”
Eureka said it has a vendor to do repairs, saying the contract process is underway — and that its staff is working as quickly as they can.
The total replacement of all lines, is 90 days, but the company said it could take less time.
In the meantime, Eureka said it has offered residents hotel rooms. It said half of its residents have opted for that.
The residents who aren’t staying in hotels do have access to eight portable showers on the property, available daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Eureka said it has also offered electric skillets to residents, and has also given food donations to neighbors there as well.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Austin is now calling on Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown to declare Mount Carmel as an emergency site.
By doing so, they’re hoping to speed up repairs, saying 90 days is unacceptable.
“If this were in west Austin they would have found a way to address this issue,” President of LULAC in Austin Gavino Fernandez Jr. said.
Fernandez feels living with no gas for 30 days and counting is inhumane. He also is asking that residents who are still living there be charged no rent while repairs are made. Fernandez said residents should be able to get out of their lease without it harming their credit as well, if they choose to do so.
This story will be updated after KXAN News at 9 and 10 p.m. with first-hand experience from a resident at Mount Carmel.
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