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The Taft Houses in Harlem have been without gas since February.

"The rent is paid. That's the basic needs that we're suppose to have -- heat, hot water, gas," says resident Kathy Lord.

The gas was shut off when New York City Housing Authority workers found an unsafe gas situation when installing new stoves in the complex.

"It's been very stressful for myself, and we have a lot of elderly people, sickly people in this building," says Lord.

"I'm spending a lot of extra money and losing a lot of extra time, and like you said, it's a basic need," says resident Alicia Crosby.

"We cook with the gas. If we don't have no gas, it's like nothing," says resident Maria Flores. "Like Mother's Day, all those days that we're suppose to be cooking, we cannot afford to be buying food outside."

NY1 first spoke with the affected residents last month, and they said NYCHA had provided them with hot plates which they claimed were useless and in some cases dangerous. Since then, residents say NYCHA has started work but at too slow a pace.

"The process is taking very long. They do stuff for like once in a week and then they go for another seven, eight days before they come back," says Lord.

A NYCHA spokeswoman told NY1 the work has been slow because the agency has had to wait on permits.

The spokeswoman released a statement to NY1 that said, “NYCHA apologizes for the inconvenience the residents of Taft Houses have endured throughout the process of restoring gas service to their development.... Restoring gas service can be a very extensive process, and it is not unusual for it to take more than a month to restore service safely to residential buildings. NYCHA staff has been onsite throughout this entire process and we have met regularly with the residents to keep them informed of the situation and all progress made. We thank Taft Houses residents for their patience and we will strive to complete all the work and restore gas service by next week.”

NY1 will continue to follow this story.