Hillcrest Apartment complex residents are enduring three weeks without hot water after fire, facing freezing temperatures and full rent despite promised credits.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Residents of a Fort Worth apartment complex have been without hot water for three weeks, including several nights of freezing temperatures, after a fire damaged the property in early December.

At Hillcrest Apartments, tenants like Rolondo Gomez have developed makeshift routines to cope with the outage, boiling water on stovetops just to take a bath.

“It’s disappointing, but at the same time, I’m the type of person that I’ll make do because life goes on,” Gomez said.

The hot water stopped working shortly after the massive fire destroyed a building at the complex. According to resident Melanie Hernandez, apartment management attributed the problem to a gas leak they had been searching for over the past 20 days.

“It’s frustrating, it really is,” Hernandez said.

Management recently sent a notice to residents saying the problem had finally been located and that work was expected to begin soon. However, residents say they have received little information about how long repairs will take.

Adding to their frustration, January rent came due at full price despite an earlier email from office staff promising “a credit” for days without hot water.

“When I saw my statement, I saw no discount,” Hernandez said. “They keep us with a lack of information, different information, just to keep us thinking, ‘OK, the hot water is going to come soon,’ when in reality, it’s not.”

The corporate office said resolving the issue is a top priority and that residents will receive rent concessions. Those credits did not appear on January statements because they are still being calculated. Atlantic Housing Management, LLC sent a statement:

“Hillcrest residents will receive rent concessions for the period during which they were without hot water. These concessions were not reflected on the January statement, as the appropriate amounts are still being finalized. Resolving this issue remains a top priority for our management team, and residents are receiving regular updates. We will share additional details regarding the concessions very soon.”

For Gomez and others, moving isn’t a realistic option.

“Where else could I go? Is someone else giving the same rates that we are having right now?” he said.