FORT WORTH, Texas — The air in Leslie Beltran's apartment is technically on, but her unit is still hot.
On Friday, the hottest day of the year so far, her thermostat read 83 degrees.
“It’s not one of the regular units were you control your own A/C or heat," Beltran said. "It’s controlled by the office or the system outside.”
Beltran has lived at the Sabine Place Apartments with her five children for six years. She said issues with the complex's cooling and heating system are normal, but the heat in North Texas this year is not.
She said 83 degrees on Friday "isn't comfortable," but it's better than it was.
Her A/C went out Wednesday. By the time someone came to fix it, more than 24 hours later, it was 99 degrees in Beltran's apartment.
“It took a while for me to get through to anybody corporate," Beltran said. "It’s a pain getting through to them. With email, they're supposed to respond in 24 hours. No one ever responds."
Beltran said she had to go to the leasing office at her property multiple times, send emails, make a number of calls and eventually get through to the corporate office for the company that owns the complex before someone came to address the situation.
On Friday evening, she was still waiting for someone to check on the unit hours after management told her they’d arrive.
“I feel like we’re looked down on because it’s low income housing, but it does matter,” Beltran said.
Sabine Place is a Section 8 housing property owned by Colorado-based Monroe Group. The company has not responded to WFAA’s request for comment about the cooling system at the complex or what efforts are in place to assist tenants through the summer.
“We’re not complaining. This is what we deal with. We live here. You guys get to go home to a nice cold home. We have to deal with this heat here,” Beltran said.
Beltran and her children bought fans. They also have two window units, but have received citations because the units are against the complex’s policy.
“When they don’t expedite the A/C problems, what are we to do?” Beltran asked.
WFAA spoke with multiple people who lived in the complex who said they’ve had similar issues this week. Tenants also received a notice this week that the water at the complex will be turned off Monday for a majority of the day as maintenance works on a leak.
Next week will also bring triple digit heat for North Texas.
“It’s very uncomfortable,” Beltran said.