STEUBENVILLE — With no piped-in heat in several dozen apartments at a downtown housing complex and bitterly cold temperatures overnight, Water Superintendent Jim Jenkins warned City Council Tuesday the situation has the potential to go from bad to worse.

Jenkins told council with wind chills well below zero, “it’s only a matter of time before the pipes burst.”

Some residents at Heritage Place, the Market Street affordable housing complex owned by Green National, say they’ve been without whole-apartment heat since around the first of December. The complex’s maintenance supervisor passed out space heaters, but four residents filed suit last week in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court alleging the complex’s owner, Green National, violated statutory requirements meant to ensure rental properties are habitable and safe for tenants. The suit, filed by Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, claims they breached their duty to maintain the property and their contracts with tenants.

“Residents not having heat can affect them in more ways than just health-related ways,” Jenkins said after the meeting. “No heat can lead to their water lines being affected — at this time of year and with these temperatures we are having, (it) can lead to frozen water lines in residences …without heat. We’ve had several residents today with frozen lines within the home and those were houses with heat.”

He said when water lines freeze due to not having heat, “the worst happens when (the lines) eventually thaw, in most cases causing the lines to burst.”

“Once a line bursts in a residence, repairs need to be made to the lines that broke but often times (there’s) more damages to the home caused by the water that is leaking from the line. This can lead to longer periods of time without water and (people) being displaced from (their) homes until repairs can be made.”

Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo said he’d received calls about the issues affecting residents at the complex, which is in his ward, “and I’m just trying to figure out what we can do.”

“What can we do to help the residents who are going through this hardship right now?” he asked.

Law Director Costa Mastros said it’s “obviously an issue between a private landlord and (its) tenants.”

“It’s really not a city issue, however if the city wanted to assist it could do some things … but we have to be careful not to assert ourselves,” he said.

Green National was ordered Friday to rehouse affected residents in fully-furnished apartments in town or in hotels in Steubenville and Weirton, if necessary, at their expense. If tenants were lodged in hotels Green National also would be responsible for meal costs.

But the order was sent to the parties involved by regular mail and as of Tuesday afternoon, no tenants had been rehoused. Mayo disputed that likely wasn’t the tenants’ choice.

“Who would stay in the cold if they had a choice?” he asked.

Mayo said he will be “going to the apartment complex (Wednesday) to make sure that everyone is being taken care of, I’ll also be talking to all agencies to make sure that they are engaged in getting all available services that the people need.”

The city’s grant writing consultants, ASPIRE’s Cassandra Kokoski, told council since coming on board late in 2022 they’ve submitted 39 grant applications and secured nearly $2.6 million in funding. Four applications filed in 2024 are pending, she said.

Among the awards: A $500,000 HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant and an Ohio CDC Microbusiness Development program grant, $25,000 from the Pugliese Charitable Foundation and $4,760 through the PNC Charitable Trust, quarterly process, both in 2023, $300,000 from H2Ohio for restoration of Beatty Park’s stream, $250,000 for the Lovers Lane Roadway Improvements from ARC-GOA, $30,000 from the J.C. Williams Trust for Belleview Park field updates, and $13,364 from ODNR Nature Works for the Beatty Park playground restoration; $1.3 million in congressional directed spending for the headworks screening and grit removal project; $65,403 from Ohio’s violent crime reduction grant program, $12,600 through the Certified Local Government grant for the Steubenville North Historic District nomination; $21,292 through the J.C. Willias Trust for the Beatty Park playground update and $13,000 through the ODNR Nature Works grant program for batting cages at city parks.

Council also heard from Donna Hrezo, site and buildings specialist for OhioSE Economic Development, who explained her agency’s role as regional network partner for JobsOhio, while Ohio Mid-Eastern Government Association’s Vicki King-Maple discussed OMEGA’s successes and its focus on water-sewer projects.