Essex House senior citizens worry they could face summer heat without air conditioning

ASHLAND ― Most people are looking forward to summer, but not the residents at Essex House.

The building at 1 E. Main St., built in 1910 to fit a 30-degree angle lot, no longer has working central air conditioning and many of the 46 apartment units' windows are stuck shut, residents say.

"Something bad is going to happen here," said a resident of the low-income senior living apartments which is open to individuals ages 55 and older. He asked his name not be used out of fear of retaliation in the form of an eviction notice.

"It involves approximately 40 people who are being taken advantage in my town and no one from Ashland is doing anything about it," the resident said.

Building owner has ordered 46 portable AC units, one for each apartment

On Friday, the owner of the apartment building, architect Fred Schwab of S&A Management in Columbus, said 46 portable air conditioning units which vent out a window have been ordered, one for each apartment, and will hopefully be here soon.

"We're going to buy units for every apartment. The old central system is pretty impossible," he said. "The reason we're getting the portable ones is so they can change the location (inside the apartment rooms)."

"We just allocated the money. I don't know how long it will take to ship them," Schwab said.

Schwab said he loves old buildings and saving them.

"The other system, they had to get used to using them too," he said. "They were a little different than what you'd be used to for a resident. We circulated tempered water. For heating it would be warm, for air conditioning it would be cool and they had heat pumps in their units. The heat pumps will still work for the hot. It was the system we put in," he added. "We were having trouble with it for awhile and we kept thinking we could fix it."

Schwab said the maintenance department will help residents open any stuck windows to vent the new units.

On Thursday, Essex tenant Robin M. Wendt, 56, who is confined to a wheelchair, said when she moved into the apartment building in September 2022 the air conditioning was working. But that's no longer the case.

"They refuse to fix it. A lot of people around here can't breathe or are on oxygen," she said. "I can't breathe. I cannot open some of my windows. My windows are so big. This used to be a bunch of lawyers' offices and then turned into a motel. I can't lift that (expletive). The maintenance man Kyle nearly got his fingers caught," she said. "They (the windows) don't stay up because of the track lining. I told Tammy (Tammy Dalton, the apartment manager) about it and she said, 'If you guys come up with any (expletive) ideas, let me know.'"

Building manager Tammy Dalton who works for S&A Management of Columbus, responded to News Journal messages on Friday, providing a direct phone number for Schwab in Columbus.

Wendt said if she could open the windows, she would not be able to open them very much as she has cats and she's on the third floor.

Already this spring she said it's gotten warm outside and a box fan sitting on the floor doesn't cool the apartment, which has 14-foot tall ceilings.

Wendt said she and others have repeatedly asked the manager when the owners are getting the air conditioning fixed. She has doubts about whether individual, portable AC units are practical.

"Here's the kicker, the kicker is everyone's apartment has different size windows," Wendt said. "... These windows are so big and heavy. An AC unit takes a 220.... As you can see, there are no outlets under our windows. They would literally have to get an electrician. That takes money. You can't use extension cords, that's a fire hazard. I went to Harvard Law School. I know this," Wendt said. "You'd have to actually put an outlet in, run the wiring and patch the hole up. That's going to cost you for 44, 45 units, more money than it would to fix the old unit on the roof."

Formerly of Mansfield and originally from Cleveland, Wendt said when her landlord died a sister found this place and she moved into the Essex House. She said she pays $420 a month rent and in September, when her lease is up, the rent is going up to $445.

"I lived in Mansfield for 16 years," she added.

Some residents have purchased fans but the four-story building and basement heats up tremendously during summer months, they said. Each apartment resident pays their own electric bill, residents said.

Wendt said around 2 to 3 p.m. the sun hits her windows and even with the blinds and her fan turned on, it gets stifling hot.

Signs posted inside the building make note of the air conditioning being out of service.

Some of the residents fall under the umbrella of the Metropolitan Housing Authority, receiving rent assistance.

'Reasonable accommodation' protected in fair housing laws

Steve Andrews, executive director at the Mansfield Metropolitan Housing Authority, which also includes Ashland County, said if elderly people are struggling with the heat in summer, there are a few things they can do.

"No. 1 – If they can get a note from their doctor stating that they need air conditioning for a medical reason, the resident can contact the owners and ask for a 'reasonable accommodation' which is protected in fair housing laws, and the managers/owners of Essex would need to make that reasonable accommodation," Andrews said.

"No. 2 – Residents can call their Area Agency on Aging to see if they might provide window AC units for the tenants who might need financial help to do so," Andrews said.

"If they have already requested air conditioners from the property managers and made them aware of health issues requiring such, then the next step is for the residents to contact legal aid, who can contact the property managers and help them understand how it is a violation of fair housing laws to deny a reasonable accommodation request and it makes them liable to a lawsuit," Andrews said.

Feeling hopeless, one resident who asked not to be identified said there are two options, "Put up with it or move."

City officials comment

Ashland fire Chief Rick Anderson, when contacted about the lack of air conditioning and stuck windows in the building, said the fire department can't do anything because it is a privately owned building.

Ashland City Engineer Shane Kremser, who also is the city building official, said there isn't a requirement to maintain air conditioning.

"Ultimately it's come up in the past in other facilities and there is no requirement (by law)," he said.

Regarding a lot of the windows not opening, Kremser said city code requires windows should be operable in sleeping areas so there is an escape route.

"Given it's an old building, new codes don't apply," he said of the building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

Tenant Lori Blake, 60, said she has COPD, a breathing ailment, and doesn't know how she is going to survive the summer heat.

"I don't know when it broke but they say it's broke," Blake said. "Heat rises and I'm on the fifth floor. What air conditioner can you put in these windows? I have one window in the bedroom I can't pull it up. Our leases say we have central air."

One tenant said the lack of air conditioning and the imminent summer heat makes for a dangerous combination. "It's a matter of life and death," he said.

The building was once the site of The Home Company department store.

Schwab said the Essex House "was the first electric building and the first building in Ashland to have an elevator. The guy that built it owned a factory there and he was making electricity for the factory and kind of wired it to the building."

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Summer heat, no AC has Essex House seniors concerned