FayWHAT? Why no AC in older public housing?

"We're hot. We're hot here. And most people can't afford the high bills."

Those are the words of a resident who has lived in low-income public housing in Fayetteville for 15 years.

This week's FayWHAT? question originates from this reader, who has requested anonymity. She said she worries about being evicted should she go on the record.

The 65-year-old resident asks, "Why has HUD declared Fayetteville isn't hot enough for central air conditioning in the older Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority apartments?"

So, first off, we went directly to the source to gain some insight into the person behind the query. She hoped to have other residents on hand during an interview, but she said they didn't want to talk to a reporter.

The woman has posed the question time and time again to Housing Authority leadership. She said she has been told that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development makes that call for the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority. Several years ago a survey was conducted, she said she was told, and HUD determined "that the heat stopped in Lumberton." Because of that, Fayetteville's spot on the map isn't considered hot enough for mandatory air conditioning in public housing.

The newer public housing apartments in Fayetteville on Old Wilmington Road are equipped with air conditioning.

The resident said she was offered one of the newer public housing places, but she declined because she did not want to move to the downtown area.

She said she's 100-percent disabled, and at times it's hard for her to breathe. She relies on disability and social security checks for her income.

"I don't know where they got where we're not hot enough," she said from her two-bedroom unit in the McNeill Apartments off Ireland Drive. "They say it's HUD, and we have to write our senators and have them vote on air conditioning for the city's older public housing units."

Those residents must purchase their own AC wall or window units, according to this reader. She said she paid $200 to $250 for her last one, which is installed in the wall next to her television set in the living room. Over her 15 years in public housing, she said, she has gone through four of the window units.

Basic rent in the McNeill Apartments community is $450 a month. Her monthly rent of $134 is based on personal income, the resident said.

Her last electric bill, she noted, came to $128: "You have to pay your own electricity and gas."

"I can't afford to move anyplace else," she said.

During the summer months, she sets her thermostat at 78 degrees. Besides the one air conditioner in her apartment, she keeps two fans in her bedroom and one apiece in the living room, kitchen and hallway.

The residents, she said, are not allowed to have ceiling fans.

"What's it like when it's really hot? I lay a sheet on the recliner, and I might cheat a little bit and turn down the thermostat to 76," she said.

A curtain hangs between the kitchen and living room, and she closes off the two rooms when she's not using them. The temperature in the windowless kitchen was higher on this Thursday morning, and she had not even been using it.

The woman has a rule: To save on the utility bill, she doesn't turn on the air conditioner until June, and she stops using it when October rolls around. That is, unless Fayetteville experiences some of those brutal 100-degree days that occasionally fall outside those points on the calendar.

OK, with that part of the assignment done, let's check in with Dawn Driggers, the executive director of the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority.

"I don't have a good answer for it," she said with a laugh, when asked why HUD has deemed that Fayetteville isn't hot enough to warrant central air conditioning in the older public housing apartments.

"That's HUD," Driggers said. "That's just something that HUD does."

Driggers has been in this line of work for 35 years, she said, and it has always been that way.

Driggers said she had never heard anything about HUD determining "that the heat stopped in Lumberton," and supposedly eliminating an essential need for air conditioning in the public housing apartments in Fayetteville.

In an email sent later, she wrote that Housing Authorities are not in the position to determine HUD regulations.

"HUD does not deem air conditioning a basic need in public housing, and consequently," she said, "does not allow for an AC utility usage. While there are some housing programs that do allow for utility usage for AC, public housing is not one of them. Some of the newer housing that FMHA is involved in, such as HOPE VI, is considered multi-family and does allow for AC usage. Why one program does and others do not is a question I cannot answer."

With that, Driggers referred us to HUD for any questions regarding their regulations.

Messages left Thursday and Friday were not immediately returned from acting field office director Christopher Taylor at the HUD office in Greensboro.

On Friday, a public affairs officer in the Atlanta regional office said by email that it was "looking like Monday before I can get ... an authoritative response to your questions."

Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at mfutch@fayobserver.com or 486-3529.