Students struggle in heat wave after a month-long wait for AC repairs

The air conditioning (A/C) unit has been under repair in a building full of students for over a month and with the extreme heat this week some of those students are speaking out.

CityNews 570 learned students are sleeping in the lobby of a apartment building that still has a functioning A/C.

A student attending the University of Waterloo, Aly, spoke about the issue with the A/C in their building on Phillip Street called Blair House. The building is 21 storeys high and offers 3, 4 and 5-bedroom suites. Aly told CityNews in an interview she and her roommates have seen multiple students studying or sleeping in the lobby to beat the heat.

Students have received no timeline on when repairs will be made and the last time information came from the property management company, Rez-One, was June 13 in a mass email to those living in Blair House.

CityNews reached out to Rez-One for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Aly pays around $1,000 a month for her unit which she shares with three other students, totalling $4,000 for the entire suite.

“It’s honestly very frustrating because one of the reasons that I choose Rez-One is that usually it’s marketed as one of the nicer apartments in Waterloo because it’s on Phillip Street really close to campus.”

The company told the students that they were waiting on a replacement computer chip for the chiller, which is the machine that provides A/C for the whole building. The company said they are waiting for an “ETA” from the manufacturer.

Aly said students have been waiting since mid-May for repairs on the A/C to be made.

“It’s so hot at night it’s so difficult to sleep I think the temperatures in our apartment are at least past 25 degrees and I have to sleep with a fan directly blowing on to me. And sometimes when it gets too hot, I go to the lobby because for some reason the A/C in the lobby is still working,” she said.

“I haven’t been able to sleep so I’ve been sleeping on my friend’s couch because it’s so hot in my unit. It’s so hard to function because the windows in our unit they’re not able to open past a certain point, so even if you want to open a window more you can’t.”

The City of Waterloo confirmed in a statement to CityNews they have received complaints about Blair House and are in contact with Rez-One.

“We have followed up and been in contact with the property management company who assures us the contractors are working on it and are waiting for a specific part. The residents have been updated by the property management company and we will continue to monitor the situation.”

Another student named Jeffrey reached out to CityNews this week saying they live at Blair House and find the conditions “uninhabitable.” They said as the heat wave progresses, it is getting harder to live in their apartment. They added they had seen people sleeping in the lobby as well.

Aly said she tried to speak with a manager on Tuesday but couldn’t get a response as to when the A/C will be repaired.

A spokesperson for the University of Waterloo directed CityNews to the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) for comment.

The Vice President of WUSA, Arya Razmjoo, said it isn’t just Blair House having these types of issues. Razmjoo said they know of several buildings made for student housing in the university district that don’t have A/C or have a similar issue.

Razmjoo said it is a repetitive issue due to a lack of standards or regulations in student housing. They confirmed students at Blair House have reached out to them for help.

“This is an issue that’s been going on for several years, it’s not just about Blair House. I think students across this region have been speaking about the lack of amenities, and regulations and so on when it comes to housing,” Razmjoo said.

“You know having living standards where students are not openly having heat strokes I think would be basic common sense legislation and regulation that should exist.“

WUSA provides free legal services for students to access, to help them with rights around tenancy. They are also working with different levels of government to create better regulations for student housing.

Razmjoo said students need regulations in place that mandate adequate responses from the property management company, “so students are not left with unreasonable standards.”