South Bend apartments suffer blizzard without heat, township trustee eyeing legal action

SOUTH BEND — “Cedar Glen Apartments in South Bend, Ind. is considered one of the best and most convenient places to live!” reads the complex's website.

The site boasts of amenities, floor plans and a quaint neighborhood. "We don't just build apartments," the site says, "we build experiences."

But there's a caveat to living at Cedar Glen: some apartment units have been without heat and/or hot water routinely throughout the winter months, according to tenants and an elected official, who say it’s now two winters in a row that Cedar Glen Apartment residents have suffered utility outages.

The Portage Township Trustee's office has assisted Cedar Glen residents before, some who've been recipients of public money through applications for township's assistance for rent and utilities.

“We’ve paid Cedar Glen rent on behalf of tenants in the past,” Trustee Jason Critchlow said. “It’s frustrating because utilities are supposed to be part of that rent.”

Also this week: Police investigate deadly shooting at Cedar Glen Apartments

This week, the Portage Township Trustee's Office decided to take legal action against Cedar Glen's owners for failure to provide a habitable space.

"This unfair and dangerous situation cannot continue," Critchlow stated in a press release. "These residents should have the same right to expect reasonable conditions as anyone else. On behalf of the residents, the Township will take whatever legal action is possible to rectify this situation and ensure accountability."

“The time for talk is over, now is the time for action," he said.

According to Indiana Code 32-31-8-5, Landlord Obligations Under a Rental Agreement, the landlord must supply a "reasonable supply of hot and cold running water at all times" and a heating system that's "sufficient to adequately supply heat at all times."

Patricia Nelson lived in the complex without hot water for one week around Thanksgiving. She said someone would come fix it, but it would last only a couple of hours.

“By the time I got home from work, the hot water would be gone,” she said. "It wasn't like this until the remodel started."

Although Nelson't unit doesn't currently lack hot water or heat, she pointed out the units that did: the western-facing units, 413-419.

Tenant Lawonna Phillips, who lives in one of these units, counted herself fortunate that she lives on the third floor, where it’s warmer, but that doesn’t mean she's not frustrated by the lack of response from the apartment complex.

"I wake up early and there's a little chill," she said. "I have to turn on the oven to get it warm."

Last winter, tenants were given gift cards to compensate the days they paid rent without hot water in the building, she said.

"For the holidays, we were out of hot water," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I thought, 'maybe it's just a coincidence,' and they gave us gift cards for it."

This winter, the problem persists, but this time, Phillips is without heat.

"This year was pretty rough," she said. "My kitchen is getting real, real cold. They were supposed to send someone out to fix it, but no one ever did. If they did fix it, it was only for a limited time."

Phillips first started to notice the lack of heat in mid-October, but she didn't feel like making a big deal about it. The weather was warmer then, so she let it slide.

"Usually by October, they have the heat up in here," she said. "They usually have it on to keep some of the elderly people warm."

Months later, she said, the issue hasn't been resolved.

"I thought that I was moving into something a little bit better," she said. "Nobody wants to be without hot water or heat. We have children in here that need to take baths. That's sad. That's horrible. You say you're gonna fix it and then a week later, no one has come."

Despite the lack of utilities within her unit, Phillips still pays the same amount of rent each month, $44. She receives assistance from Section 8. In fact, Cedar Glen is home to many who have limited economic means.

Critchlow is working with Alex Bowman, an attorney with Krieg DeVault LLP, who provides legal counsel to the trustee.

“The township is a unit of government uniquely suited to advocate for these people," said Bowman, who is working with current tenants to gather information, which he said, "will take time."

“Right now, we’re evaluating our legal avenues,” he said. “Now, how that manifests, remains to be seen.”

Critchlow said tenants have not requested financial assistance from the township to live in a hotel in the meantime, but he said, “we could help with places to go.”

He noted, that’s not always what the tenants want.

“They don’t want to go,” he said. “This is their home.”

A Cedar Glen employee in the on-site management office declined to comment, deferring all questions to corporate officials. Cedar Glen Apartments is one of 61 communities owned by Indianapolis-based Barrett and Stokely Inc.

A reporter tried navigating options on a phone tree at the corporate number, but no live person responded.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Cedar Glen Apartments' ongoing heat outage brings township legal threat