Wedgewood Apartments lack AC – again
With the D.C. region experiencing a “dangerous heat wave,” tenants at the Wedgewood Apartments in Annandale are suffering without air conditioning.
“The conditions inside the apartments have become unbearable,” says Aisha of McWhorter Place. “This is affecting our health, comfort, and ability to safely remain in our home.”
“I have already contacted the leasing office several times, but unfortunately, I was told that there is nothing they can do and that we should simply manage on our own. This response is unacceptable given the dangerous temperatures,” Aisha said. “They never tell us when it will be fixed.”
“Yesterday, I cried. I had laundry, I had to cook, and when you cook, the house is like a stove itself,” she said, while shopping at Costco to spend her own money on a portable air conditioner.
The whole complex is affected, but somehow, the AC in the management office is working, she noted. Meanwhile, she and her three young children have been sitting in her car with the engine running and the AC on.
Related story: Wedgewood tenants suffer without AC
The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which owns the Wedgewood, is aware of the problem, said Marketing and Outreach Manager Allyson Pearce. “While air conditioning is operational, it is not functioning at 100% across the entire property.”
“The property manager, Pratum, is working to address it,” Pearce said. “Wedgewood residents who need immediate access to a cooled location are encouraged to visit one of the Fairfax County cooling centers. Residents should contact the property manager with any concerns. More information will be made available as this situation is addressed.”
Neither the management at the Wedgewood nor Pratum’s main office in Maryland responded to our calls or emails.
It’s hotter inside his Wedgewood apartment than it is outside, said Mohammed. It’s too hot to sleep or cook, so he’s taken his family to friends’ and relatives’ homes to cool off. In addition to the lack of air conditioning, the Wedgewood swimming pool has been closed for the last few days, he said.
When he complained to management, he said they laughed at him.
A Wedgewood tenant on McWhorter Place who goes by F.A., who spoke to us in his parked car with the AC on, said the manager “is a really good person,” but the other staff “are very rude.”
Related story: Wedgewood tenants lack heat and hot water
Another Wedgewood tenant, who declined to give his name, said he and his wife and their three children are all staying in the same room in his third-floor apartment, where there is an air cooler. However, it doesn’t do a good enough job. The heat is exacerbating his asthma, and he had to take his 3-year-old daughter to the doctor with a heat rash.
When he went to the leasing office, a staff member told him, “There’s only so much I can do.” When he called again, she hung up on him.
Noting that the heating system broke down during the extreme cold weather this winter, and he had no hot water for three or four months, he asked management for a break on the rent, which is $1,790 a month. “They said we don’t do that.”
The Wedgewood management office sent the following message to tenants, which one resident called ridiculous since the AC isn’t working at all:
