Last week a Kansas City woman found a cricket in her Chinese take-out, and this week a woman has had to endure two weeks without hot water. What is this city coming to?
FOX 4’s Robert Townsend interviewed Essence on camera about the hot water problems that plague her. Essence told him that upon moving into a Section 8 townhouse two weeks ago with her two children, she quickly noticed that the unit had no hot water. Apparently, Missouri Gas Energy shut off the gas due to a gas leak in the hot water heater.
For the record, Section 8 is a highly desired federal subsidy program that allows families to occupy privately owned homes at little or no cost. Sometimes, as Essence is learning, you get what you pay for. “I probably stink right now and I’m sorry if you can smell me, but I haven’t bathed all day. I just want to wash my hair!” she “shouted” at Townsend.
To be fair to the Section 8 program, the property owner did offer Essence another townhouse, but she promptly turned it down because it was “unsanitary.” Essence cited mold as the underlying issue. Essence was then offered another apartment.
“Problem is that apartment is two blocks away,” said Essence, “and I don’t have a car and I recently injured my hip in a car crash, so I can’t do all that walking with my baby and daughter.”
Essence is not the only one with water problems. According to figures released by the United Nations, “783 million people do not have access to clean water and almost 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. 6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases.”
Unlike her colleagues in woe, Essence has the ultimate first solution to her hot water problem just a phone call away. “If they don’t fix it by Friday,” she told Fox 4, “then I’m probably going to just leave, and, yes I will be calling a lawyer.”
