An Oklahoma City apartment resident spent $900 on microwave meals and restaurant food after a two-week gas outage left dozens of tenants without hot water, working ovens, and heat.
Here's what to know
Residents at the apartment complex said they struggled to meet basic household needs during the ongoing outage, according to KFOR.
Resident Charlotte Mingo Harper explained why she couldn't use the groceries she already had.
"I got a purse full of receipts from buying food outside my house because all the food I have is for the stove and for the oven. I don't have that luxury, that I thought I was having when I pay my rent."
Valencia Oliver said eating out was hard to avoid — her two younger children wanted hot meals.
More background
Construction debris and holes in damaged floors were among other problems residents described to KFOR.
They also reported overflowing sewage lines.
Across the country, landlords have prevented renters from adopting money-saving practices, including gardening and hanging clotheslines to dry laundry.
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For tenants seeking changes to established rules, this resource on working with homeowners associations offers guidance that may help inform conversations with landlords.
Oliver told KFOR that her children should not have to wonder whether they could shower or when they would eat next, and that they deserve a comfortable home.
What's being done?
Residents still had no information about when their gas service would resume.
One shared a notice from management, while several tenants at the complex told KFOR they planned to withhold rent until the problem was fixed.
Neither the management company, which oversees the complex, nor the property had responded to KFOR by the time of its report. The station made several attempts to reach the property and had also contacted the management company.
As for Manchester on May residents, the situation was untenable.
"This is so hard. Can't nobody live like this. It's just inhumane to me — inhumane," Harper told KFOR.
Where can I learn more?
Renters in other communities have also struggled to get landlords to address utility outages and safety concerns. These stories cover missing heat and hot water, as well as water shutoffs.
• New York tenants say their landlord left them without heat or hot water before court.
• In Oklahoma, mobile home residents hauled water during a shutoff triggered by $11,000 bills.
• Kentucky tenants secured a delayed water shutoff, but mold-filled homes remained a problem.
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