For more than two months, residents of 24 flats in a national state housing building in the Gare neighbourhood have been spending their nights freezing due to recurrent boiler failures, sometimes going 12 hours without heating.
Concern is growing among residents as the building is mostly home to elderly people, a group more vulnerable to colds and flu. The Fonds du Logement – the national housing fund – acknowledges the urgency of the problem and has promised to replace the equipment.
They’ve done nothing in eight weeks to solve the problem once and for all. When I call the technicians, sometimes they tell me it’s not urgent
Nuno Silva
Tenant
“It’s been very cold, and we’ve been doing this: heating, cooling, heating, cooling,” said Laura Fonseca, 58, a resident for 17 years. “We arrive at the weekend, and it’s even worse because there’s no one to come round and fix it. They come when they feel like it,” she told Contacto.
Nuno Silva, 54, has lost count of the number of times the heating has failed in the last eight weeks.
“It happens almost every day. The boiler works for a while, then breaks down. We call them to come and repair it; they come and restart the equipment, and shortly afterwards it fails again. The other day, we went from 3:00 until 16:00 without heating, and there were days when it was minus 2 degrees.”
“Another neighbour and I fell ill. I’ve been sick for three weeks now, and the cold house doesn’t help us get better,” he said.
Silva, who’s been retired due to a cancer diagnosis, spends most of his time at home with his pets – a cat and a dog – feeling the consequences of the heating failures even more acutely.
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“This can’t happen in the 21st century in a building that belongs to the state. It’s working now, but it’s going to break down again soon, and the heating won’t come on until tomorrow morning. I go to sleep with the house warm, but it fails in the middle of the night. The other day, I woke up at 3:00 feeling very cold,” he said, adding that the fault “is being undervalued.”
“They’ve done nothing in eight weeks to solve the problem once and for all. When I call the technicians, sometimes they tell me it’s not urgent. Isn’t it urgent that someone has been without heating for almost 12 hours?” he said, speaking on behalf of other residents, who he said are also “very upset.”
The building on Rue Wilson in the Gare neighbourhood, where residents experience recurrent heating failures © Photo credit: Gerry Huberty
‘A weekend without heating’
Laura Fonseca has the flu, and her daughter has also fallen ill. “We wake up in the morning to shower, and it’s cold. We’ve already fallen ill,” she said.
“Sometimes it breaks down in the early hours, and we’re here all day without heating, not until late afternoon do they come to switch it on, and then it fails again during the night. We had a weekend in November with practically no heating, and it was very cold. We’ve been living like this for two months now, and now Christmas is coming with more cold days,” she said.
We’re not asking for anything we’re not entitled to; we’re paying our monthly expenses
Laura Fonseca
Tenant
“We’re not asking for anything we’re not entitled to; we’re paying our monthly expenses,” she added, dissatisfied.
Both residents said they have contacted the Luxembourg government and the Fonds du Logement, but Fonseca said she has only received automated replies. “We call, they say they understand and will pass the message on. They push each other, but nothing is resolved. I’ve sent a lot of emails to people in higher positions, some of whom haven’t even replied. They’re cosy at home and have no respect for us,” she said.
Technicians reportedly told the two tenants that “a part is missing,” but it has not been replaced due to difficulties finding it. The residents also said that maintenance “hasn’t been done.”
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Three months without a lift
“We were without a lift for almost three months, and we have many elderly people with limited mobility who were unable to leave their homes because they couldn’t,” she said. “At the time, I had to help neighbours up the stairs with their shopping. The lift parts took two weeks to arrive,” Nuno said.
Residents also pointed to other problems, including “lack of cleanliness” and unauthorised entry by homeless people and drug users. “The Fonds du Logement has passed through several hands, and since the new management, which has been here for about four years, things have only got worse. It’s like we’re living in a slum,” Nuno said.
‘Unavailability of parts’
The Fonds du Logement confirmed to Contacto that the boiler at 33 Rue Wilson “started having problems at the beginning of the current winter season.”
“The company responsible said it was having difficulty resolving the situation due to the unavailability of replacement parts, which are no longer produced by the manufacturer,” the organisation said.
The public body guaranteed that it is “doing what is necessary to prepare a consultation procedure to replace the equipment” and that “the aim is to keep the building warm,” without specifying how long the procedure will take.
Contacto subsequently asked how long the replacement would take but received no answer.
“The problem is being dealt with as quickly as possible. We fully understand and recognise the degree of urgency,” the national body said, adding that the fault is “essentially electronic in nature.”
Asked whether the equipment has been serviced, the public body said the boiler “is maintained in accordance with the rules and regulations by a specialised company” and that there is “an active maintenance contract.”
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(This article has been first published by Contacto. AI translated, with editing and adaptation by Lucrezia Reale.)