This was the worst winter for Ruth Britt. Britt, a resident of the Patterson Houses in the Bronx, went without heat and hot water for days during the widespread system outages that plagued New York City Housing Authority developments throughout the city. Britt, who is on a fixed income, had to buy a space heater and rely on her stove to keep from shivering. The added expenses strained her pocketbook and she had to forgo food and other vital items from the grocery store to stay within her budget.
