one year after tenants at Stanley Holmes Village filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic City Housing Authority many say the unsafe living conditions persist from no heat or hot water to reports of gas leaks and pest infestations renters were back in court recently urging a judge to take more forceful action against the city in order to protect residents health and well-being as we head into what's expected to be bitterly cold winter months Ted Goldberg has the latest a mile away from some of AC's casinos residents in Stanley holes Village say they play a game of chance every time they turn on their heat or hot water no it's not 50/50 it's 30 Devon Brown has lived here for almost 30 years the first year we had maybe 10 maintenance men we have maybe five some of them need to go back to school she says it takes months to get basic repairs done like fixing a leaky sink Stanley Holmes was built around 85 years ago and New Jersey's oldest public housing complex might be showing its age the heating and hot water worked when I stopped by but Brown says that's not always the case and she frequently smells gas around the complex coming to find out that pipe that they connect the gas to they didn't connect it right it had a hole in it also all those pipes right there need to be redone I Tred not distress this took a lot on me David Johnson has lived here for about 15 years aside from that pesky screen door he enjoys his apartment through it all though I love where I live I really do I got a nice relationship with a lot of neighbors but he admits that the hot water and heat aren't always there when he needs them we have days where we don't have sometime heat sometime both heat and hot water know that happens from time to time the conditions could be better um and and I think they will get better not everyone is so optimistic we're anticipating a really really difficult winter last year around a 100 residents signed on to a lawsuit against the AC Housing Authority asking them to come up with a plan to make sure residents have heat and hot water Olga poar is lead Council for the residents temperatures were dropping into below freezing and the units at Stanley holes Village didn't have heat and hot water the year-long case has produced some results a judge has demanded that aging gas lines be replaced by the end of February and also that the AC Housing Authority show the first steps in a new heating system in place by next winter they had talked about installing a new replacement decentralized heating system because they knew that the current system was so unreliable and they really didn't move forward on it it wasn't until September when we brought a motion to enforce our prior orders that we kind of discovered that the Housing Authority really hadn't done much of anything to prepare for this year's heating season the judge is also considering how much rent credit should be given to Residents who aren't getting heat or hot water consistently over time residents have become frustrated with the Housing Authority which did not make anyone available for comment on the story in our view the housing authority never provided us with any kind of a reasonable intelligent plan they suck because the board members you know what they do they go for the lower biders they're all local people but we have to have accountability and the Housing Authority board has to require more accountability residents have received rental credits in the past for similar issues with heat and hot water city councilman khim shabaz hopes residents continue getting credits until problems are fixed consistent heat and hot water is not a luxury it is a necessity a necessity that residents have had to fight for over the past 13 months in Atlantic City I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news