A family of five has been living without heat in their apartment for four years despite making dozens of complaints to their landlord. And for the past few weeks, they haven’t had hot water or gas forcing them to go without a home cooked meal on Thanksgiving and likely Christmas too.

“We could stand here for five minutes with the door closed,” said Jonelle Smart about her showe. “It will not get any steam, nothing will change. It’ll just be freezing.”

For the last six weeks, Smart and her family have been forced to bathe with a bucket. It’s filled with hot water from a tea kettle, which Smart calls her best friend.

“For showers, I use that kettle four times in addition to these two pots,” said Smart.

She’s lived in a four-bedroom apartment in East Flatbush for eight years, along with her parents and two siblings. She says her family was unable to cook on Thanksgiving and now they plan on spending Christmas without a working stove.

“We try to get excited about the holidays, but when there’s no heat and you can’t cooking anything,” said Smart. “It’s a little depressing to be honest. It is depressing when you’re used to having that tradition with your family.”

Smart says the lack of gas and hot water are the latest in a series of persistent problems plaguing this apartment. Smart claims they’ve dealt with leaks from the ceiling, vermin infestations, broken appliances, cracks in the walls and worst of all, no heat for four years.

“We call this the North Pole,” said Smart about her sister’s bedroom. “But we do block the air from coming in because there’s an insane draft.”

Unable to sleep in their frigid bedrooms, Smart and her 22-year-old sister sleep on a double bed in the living room. The family uses space heaters and a faux fireplace to heat the apartment, which has made their utility bills skyrocket.

Since 2021, this family has been embroiled in a legal battle with their landlord, Veronica Pierre. According to the Department of Housing Preservation & Development, Smart and her family members have lodged 35 complaints against Pierre this year alone. Those violations come with fines that HPD can enforce, but a lawyer for Smart and her family says no one is collecting the bill.

“There’s outstanding $45,000 in civil penalties against this landlord,” said Lindsay Cowen, a senior staff attorney with Brooklyn Legal Services. “HPD, the enforcement agency, has filed now 8 cases against this landlord from early 2021 to present. Part of it is just that our legal system, particularly when it comes to housing, is inherently broken.”

Pierre said she’s unable to make repairs because she hasn’t received rent payments from the family since 2020. But Smart says the heat has been out since 2018 and Pierre has done nothing to fix it.

“Dating back to two years ago, we were still paying rent consistent,” said Smart. “She had no issues. She would come get her rent; talk about all the things she would do. She never came. So, at some point, we stopped paying.”

Smart has tried looking for other apartments, but she was unable to during the pandemic. And now, the family is struggling to find a place they can afford.

“Obviously with COVID, inflation, everything is just extremely high,” said Smart. “It’s hard. During COVID, I had family members that lost their jobs. My mom and I had to support the house and do things where you deplete your savings. Food is more expensive. We’re trying to get out of here. It’s just not as easy as it may seem.”

Smart says all she wants for Christmas is to have a heated apartment and working stove.

“I’m hoping that somebody does something and they do it quick because Christmas is around the corner, and it sucks that we’re stuck feeling like this again,” Smart said. “And no one wants to go into the New Year feeling like they don’t have a warm place to go.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for HPD said, “HPD has issued multiple violations and is pursuing litigation in Housing Court to gain access and make repairs to the building’s heating system because the owner has failed to fulfill their basic responsibility.”

A trial date for this case is set for Jan. 6. HPD also has an open case against the landlord, seeking to get access to make repairs to the heat. NY1 reached out to the Pierre for comment but have yet to hear back.