Laura Glesby Photo
Mandy Management tenants Noela, Mlebinge, and Jacqueline in the Clarion hotel lobby on Wednesday, waiting to go home.
After a two-night stay in a Hamden hotel, a family of nine Congolese refugees moved back to their Dickerman Street apartment on Friday morning — where, for the first time this winter, the heat came on.
Noela Balomona, Kabichi Alinoti, and their seven children have been living on the second and third floors of 86 Dickerman St. for about three years. They pay $2,150 per month in rent to Mandy Management, one of the city’s largest landlords.
The family said that they haven’t had heat on the apartment’s second floor, where three of the kids usually sleep, since they moved in. Mandy’s records indicate that the second floor heat hasn’t functioned since at least November of 2024.
On freezing cold nights in her second-floor bedroom, the eldest daughter, 24-year-old Josephine Jacques, would plug in a space heater — then wait for the lights to go off.
When the fuse would inevitably blow, she would reset the power, wait a few minutes, and then try again for that small, short burst of warmth.
“It never worked,” Jacques said. “We suffered through the cold.”
Jaques, a nursing student at Gateway, said that her six-year-old sibling, — the youngest — started to cough at night. The family decided that he should sleep upstairs, where the heat still functioned.
The family was still getting used to cold winters when they first moved to New Haven in 2016. They came as refugees from Congo, by way of Tanzania. When interacting with landlords, Jacques and her sister Mlebinge said they often interpret for their parents, who primarily speak Swahili. They recalled showing up in person to Mandy’s Whalley Avenue office multiple times over the years to report the heating failure.
“We walked there trying to tell them, but they don’t take it seriously,” Jacques said.
According to Mandy Management spokesperson Yudi Gurevitch, the company received a work order for the heating problem on Nov. 25, 2024. He said that a technician visited the property the next morning and discovered that a particular part was needed.
“By November 26, repairs were underway; however, further assessments uncovered additional issues with the electrical system and ductwork, significantly expanding the scope of the work required,” Gurevitch wrote in an email. “By November 29, it became clear that specialized expertise was needed, leading to the involvement of outsourced professionals. Repairs have been actively progressing since December 9, and we have worked tirelessly to ensure the issue is resolved thoroughly and efficiently.”
As for earlier than November, Gurevitch said, “We have had previous tickets over the last few years regarding heat issues, all of which were successfully resolved.”
With help from refugee resettlement advocate Amy Johnson, the family contacted the city’s housing code agency, the Livable City Initiative. An inspector came to the apartment on Dec. 23 and ordered that the heat be fixed.
Nearly a month later, as temperatures dropped to the teens, the second floor remained freezing. Mandy set up the tenants in a hotel for two nights.
“It is important to note that the tenants were never completely without heat,” Gurevitch wrote. “The third floor remained consistently warm, though the second floor experienced uneven heating. Throughout this process, we maintained open communication with the tenants through their advocate, ensuring their needs and concerns were addressed. … We deeply regret any inconvenience caused and have remained fully committed to resolving this matter with urgency and to the highest standards.”
On Friday morning, the family was able to move back in. According to Jacques, the heat is now working in the bedroom, but maintenance is still in progress ensuring it will work in the kitchen and living room.
According to Jacques, the family didn’t see finding another apartment as an option. As a large household, there are fewer options out there. But the family is saving up, Jacques said, to buy a house of their own one day.