Tenants at an East Village affordable housing complex say they haven’t been able to shower for two months after the building’s water system tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease bacteria.
Haven Plaza, an Alphabet City apartment complex located at 200 Avenue C, was one of the first sites of Legionella detection this summer.
The Department of Health says a resident tested positive for Legionnaires’ in May of 2025, and a second case was confirmed this past May, which triggered the city to step in.
Resident Dana Cruz, who is the president of the tenant association, said she has to spend 90 minutes mixing boiling water with cold water to bathe her asthmatic son.
“We’ve always had water issues: browning water, no water, no hot water. But this?” resident Lisette Alejandro said.
A rally set for Thursday will call for an increased response from New York City officials over the outbreak.
“The communication or the lack of communication just compounds the situation,” Dana Cruz, the president of Haven Plaza Tenants Association, said.
“We have had the health department come in and talk to us, but the end result is we’re not allowed to shower,” Cruz said. “We have 370 units in our complex. No one’s allowed to shower. And this has been going on since May.
She said about one-fourth of the complex is either immuno-compromised or seniors who are expected to carry buckets of water to bathe, and that property managers should be ashamed of themselves.
“I boil the water, let it temper, and then I put it in a bucket,” resident Yvette Lopez said. “You can take boil it, throw the cold water in the tub if you have to bathe,” resident Edwin Bonilla said.
The city advised residents not to shower and, if they’re taking a bath, to run the water slowly and minimize their time in the tub. “If you do not have a bathtub, you may use a bucket of water or hose to bathe,” the flier states.
Resident Gwen Nemcek said, “Department of Health where are you? We need you to be putting pressure on Wavecrest.”
Mayor Mamdani on July 22 pushed back on criticism leveled by City Council members regarding the administration’s response to the outbreak. “What we have done time and time again is follow public health experts and their advice,” Mamdani said. He said he believes the city has eliminated the source of the initial cluster and no new cases have been reported in the past ten days.
City Council members announced that they will push a new legislation package that includes a real-time public health response database and hotline, as well as requiring immediate proactive disinfection of cooling towers, and strengthening inspection capacity.
Catholic Homes and Wavecrest Management told NY1 in a statement: “Management is fully committed to the health and safety of the residents and is providing regular updates to the tenant association.”
In a joint statement, management said, “Following the second case property management began a full testing and remediation program as required by City guidelines once there have been two cases within a one-year period. This has included inspections and now remediation, which will begin July 28.”
Councilmember Harvey Epstein said he was told that in the last two weeks, a third Haven Plaza resident also tested positive for the disease, but DOHMH officials said they have no reports of a third case.
In the viral moment that triggered the latest outcry, residents at the 371-unit complex discovered that a resident tested positive for Legionnaires’ in May of 2025. A second case was confirmed this past May, which triggered the city to step in. City health officials late Tuesday confirmed the presence of Legionella bacteria in the water system of the East Village apartment complex. The water system serves 371-units across the complex’s five buildings and was tested after the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene last month notified residents.
“The communication or the lack of communication just compounds the situation,” Dana Cruz said. According to the DOH, it’s held multiple town halls, met with residents as recently as Tuesday and the building remains under evaluation. Testing must show that the bacteria is under control before that evaluation ends.
The health department said remediation can take months and there’s no definitive timeline for when it will be completed.