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DENVER -- A Denver family who has been living with a broken furnace for months has only one wish this holiday season: Working heat before Christmas. Now, the landlord is giving Contact7 the cold shoulder and the family is fed up with waiting for a fix.
“I love my kids and it’s just so hard to be in this kind of situation right now,” said Denver resident Angela Yslas.
Yslas and her kids moved from Thornton and into their Denver home in June. During the summer months, everything was fine. As the winter set in, they noticed a problem.
“We noticed that downstairs it was so hot but there was no heat coming up so that's when I gave my landlord a call,” said Yslas.
Yslas said her landlord resolved that issue, but a few months later the heater broke again.
“We told her if we have to we would take it out of our pocket, out of the rent and fix it. She refused to do that,” said Yslas.
Contact7 called and went to her landlord's house in Aurora to get her side of the story. The landlord refused to comment. Yslas said she's had a hard time getting a hold of her too. Now the cold winter nights have her family going to great lengths of multiple space heaters and turning on the oven and opening it up at night to keep warm.
“I know it’s not safe, but that’s what we have to do to keep ourselves warm,” said Yslas.
While Yslas and her family try to figure out what to do next, she said moving out isn't an option.
“With us it’s not financially feasible at all,” said Yslas.
As their family prepares for Christmas, this year may be different than others before.
“Right now we can't even buy presents for the kids,” said Yslas.
Their Christmas wish is some working heat and stability in their own home.
“It's just horrible to be living like this,” said Yslas. “That would be a great Christmas wish."
