DENVER — Christmas spirits were dampened over the holiday weekend at a Denver apartment complex after a burst pipe left hundreds of residents without water or heat for days.
Phillip Bailey, a tenant at the Avantus Apartments in Denver, said he's lived there for three years. Bailey said he's frustrated that he was without water or heat over Christmas weekend, having to use his oven for warmth.
"This oven... I turn it to the bake side and I put it to about 200 to 300," Bailey said. That pretty much warms the entire apartment. It's frustrating because you don’t want to fall asleep with the thing on, with the potential of something happening."
On Monday, a plumber showed up to fix the pipe. Bailey said it's not the only problem he's been dealing with. He said there's also constant issues with trash pile-ups and elevators not working properly.
"It isn't new to anybody. The emergency line — you call it, but there's no one you talk to," Bailey said. "Some of these people have children, like little kids, elderly people. Folks can't come see them because they have no running water and have to come get some of them and carry them down because they can't travel because of the elevators."
Denver7 reached out to dozens of plumbers Monday morning, who said they were flooded with phone calls regarding burst pipes. We also reached out to Avantus Apartments to get their response to these claims but we couldn't get through to their line.
Phillip is asking the apartments to step up to help tenants.
"Just fix the place, people. Fix the place. Cosmetic work can be done at anytime. Anytime. The floor isn't needing to be redone. All the work that these people have come in and done has been undone by ruptured pipes and flooding in the hallways. We need trash that is adequate enough for the amount of people and the units that are here. We need the elevator to work. And not just work for a day, two days at a time," he said.
"As a veteran coming home and seeing this, it breaks my heart to know that this is what America is doing to its own people. Like, why are we doing stuff everywhere else when we can't even take care of our home? And we're not taking care of our home — we're really not taking care of our own people. We're charging them astronomical rates of rent, forcing them to pay," he added.
