City seniors complex leaves a few chilled

The city is working out the glitches of a new energy-efficient heating system at a Mountain seniors’ building as Hamilton dips into a cold snap.

That’s left some residents at the Mohawk Road East complex with chillier apartments.

“I turn my oven on,” said Shirley Hammond, who compiled a list of 41 residents who’ve noted heating problems over the past month or so.

That’s around when the city installed an automation system that regulates heat at Mohawk Gardens, which is near Upper Wentworth Street.

“We will work out some of the kinks on it,” CityHousing CEO Tom Hunter said Thursday. “Staff have been very attentive to residents in the building.”

Not everyone at the six-storey building has heating problems.

“I would say, overall, it’s consistent,” Hunter said.

CityHousing installed the same system in a Maple Avenue complex a year ago. Initially, there were problems there too but the complaints subsided, Hunter said. “It’s working now.”

The plan, supported by provincial funding, is to install the same automated system in all of CityHousing’s larger buildings.

Hammond, 79, says she has used her oven, a small space heater and an electric fireplace to keep her and Charlie, her Shih Tzu warm. “I think this is ridiculous.” Margaret Roberts, 76, says she has also used her oven and space heater to keep warm.