The Elton residents say they haven’t had AC for weeks
Residents at The Elton apartments in Phoenix say they have endured weeks without air conditioning during the summer heat. One person has died, and a pregnant woman was hospitalized. FOX 10’s Kenzie Beach has more.
PHOENIX – Dozens of residents at a Phoenix apartment complex say they have been living without air conditioning for weeks.
What we know:
An investigation is underway at The Elton near 24th Street and Thomas Road after one resident died, and a pregnant woman was hospitalized amid the outages.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has given the complex until 5 p.m. Friday, July 18, to resolve the issue she calls “gravely dangerous.”
“I’m appalled at the conditions these tenants were forced to experience, especially during the summer heat,” Mayes said. “It is unacceptable.”
The backstory:
Residents at the Phoenix apartment complex say they have been without air conditioning since July 5, enduring Arizona’s summer heat during some of the year’s hottest days.
A pregnant mother, who spoke with FOX 10 before management intervened on July 18, reported her family had no AC for more than five days before receiving a portable fan.
The Attorney General’s Office states that portable fans are inadequate for cooling units in such heat.
Another pregnant tenant was hospitalized over the weekend with an apartment temperature reportedly reaching 97 degrees.
Last week, a 66-year-old man died in his unit, which lacked both AC and a portable fan. FOX 10 is awaiting his official cause of death.
Matthew Grinage, a single father, sent his son to stay with a relative, deeming the living conditions unsafe.
“It’s 95 degrees in here,” Grinage told FOX 10. “I as a parent, I can’t risk your safety … With extreme heat they can’t do this. I’m nauseous in here. I’m like genuinely sick. The feeling of working all day in the heat and then getting off of work and getting into a house that’s even hotter than work, it’s just, you can’t even explain it.”
What’s next:
FOX 10 reached out to the apartment complex and it declined to comment.
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