NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When 70-year-old Brenda Floyd told us she feels forgotten, we listened — especially after she explained she’s been living for months without hot water in her South Nashville apartment. The problem, she says, has made it nearly impossible to take a proper shower or bath.
“They act like it’s nothing,” Floyd said. “But it’s something to us. To be without hot water.”
Floyd, a stroke survivor who walks with a cane, lives on the second floor of Hickory Hollow Towers, a HUD-subsidized complex she says is owned and operated by Evergreen Real Estate Services. She’s not the only one struggling. Her neighbors, Theresa Ellis and Donnell Rhone, say they’ve also been dealing with the same issue for four months.
“We see plumbers out here off and on two or three times a week,” Rhone said. “Why aren’t they prioritizing this? It’s ridiculous.”
Residents said the water is either cold or, at best, lukewarm — making showers and baths nearly impossible. When asked when they last felt like they’d taken a full shower, one replied, “Oh gosh, we haven’t had hot water to do that.”
With no other option, they’ve resorted to boiling water just to wash up. Floyd showed how she carefully heats pots of water on the stove, then carries them to the bathroom.
“This is what I do — and it’s scary,” she said. “This is boiling hot water. I’m on a cane, and I’m afraid I’ll spill it and scar myself because I had a stroke on my left side.”
Ellis said living this way has left her feeling invisible. “I feel like I don’t matter,” she said.
Floyd calls the makeshift routine a “bird bath,” mixing scalding water with cold to clean herself the best she can. “You want to be clean all over — not just your face and under your arms,” she said. “You want to be clean all over. It’s uncivilized for me.”
Floyd pays just over $400 a month for her unit. She said she’s reported the issue multiple times, but little has changed.
When contacted by NewsChannel 5, Evergreen Real Estate Services said maintenance had been in Floyd’s unit around 11:30 Thursday morning to test the hot water. But that was the same time our crew was inside her apartment, and we only saw maintenance enter the unit across the hall.
The company said there are two functioning hot water tanks at the property but has not provided any further response, when we reached out about our crew being in the unit at the same time. Residents said they just want one thing — for the hot water to finally be restored so they can live comfortably again in their own homes.
This story was reported by reporter Aaron Cantrell and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Aaron and our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy
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