THORNTON — THORNTON, Colo. — Residents living at a Thornton apartment complex said their heat is turned off heading into the winter months, and that it's not the first time this has happened.
On Monday, the City of Thornton said they started receiving calls from residents at the Rockview Terrace apartment complex, formerly known as Renaissance 88, saying their heat had not been on in weeks. That includes hot water.
“We immediately sent our crews out here to investigate and find out what's going on. We notified the management that it is against the law to not be providing heat," said Todd Barnes, the communications director for the City of Thornton. “These people do not have heat. It's been getting down into the 30s overnight, and those are unsafe, unhealthy conditions.”
Barnes said this is not the first time the heat has been turned off at this apartment complex.
“Back in 2020, it took three weeks when the temperatures were near zero, to get them to make the needed repairs and get the heat turned on for these people," Barnes remembered. “We've informed them quite clearly and forcefully that they need to get the heat turned on, and it needs to always be on and available to people.”
On Monday, Barnes said the city posted notices on the buildings saying they were dangerous living conditions.
“We put notices on the buildings yesterday [Monday] informing people that the conditions were unsafe. It doesn't mean they have to immediately leave. We understand the difficulty of finding housing and shelter... We wanted to make it clear that we knew what the conditions were and that we're working on it," Barnes explained. “When some of our inspectors got over here today [Tuesday], we noticed that most if not all of the notices that were put up had been ripped down. And that's not okay.”
Barnes said the city gave the property management company, Avail Colorado, until 4 p.m. on Tuesday to turn the heat back on. Denver7 spoke with a representative of the company, who said it was back on at that time, but residents disagreed.
“The next steps after that are they start getting daily fines. Could be up to $12,000 a day," Barnes said, indicating those fines could start as soon as Wednesday. "We need to put pressure on companies that aren't meeting basic demands for people.”
Denver7 was sent the following statement from PK Management related to Rockview Terrace:
Thank you for your inquiry. The owner/agent is in the process of firing up all boilers on site by Close of Business tomorrow. Normally, boiler operation begins sometime between October 15th and 31st, depending on forecasted temperature.
Denver7 spoke with one resident who has lived there for a number of years and who wanted to remain anonymous, but said this issue happens every winter.
“I remember last winter, me and my kids all had to sleep in the same bed full of blankets just to keep each other warm. And that was for about two days that we were like that," she said. “It'll happen again. We've had so many different managements and they always say, 'oh, we're under new management' or something. And it's always been that excuse, and I don't see any of it changing... It's just not the first time and I don't think it's the last.”
Denver7 will be following up to see if the heat is back on by Wednesday.
The City of Thornton wanted to thank the residents who called them about the heat at the complex, saying that's what makes it possible for city governments to step in and do what they can to help.
