Residents of a Hempstead apartment complex say they've been living in squalor for years and their complaints have been ignored.

Lisa Latson is among the residents of the Rivoli House on West Columbia Street. She says she's been living in horrible conditions in her low-income apartment, without heat or even a thermostat, and she’s forced to use a stove to keep warm in the winter.

"It's like living in a hellhole," she says.

Latson and other tenants say there's also a bug and rodent problem. Latson covered the outlets in her apartment to prevent mice from coming into her apartment, and News 12's cameras spotted roaches on the walls in another woman's apartment.

Latson says she reached out to property managers several times over the eight years she has lived there, but that management hasn't done anything.

Ben Britton is the housing organizer for New York Communities for Change, a nonprofit organization that helps low-income families. He says the group got involved after receiving several complaints from residents, but says the property managers have been unresponsive. 

News 12 contacted the building's property manager to discuss the complaints. He said the building works “directly with the incorporated village of Hempstead Section 8 and any other agencies to do repairs as needed, as required."

News 12 also reached out to the village of Hempstead and was told the building has a history of violations. Most recently, the owner was ticketed for not providing hot water to one of the tenants, and some of the other Rivoli House violations include too much garbage outside and yard fencing in disrepair.

The director of publicity for the village tells News 12 an inspector went to Latson's unit recently which tested at 72 degrees. Latson says she believes it was warm in the apartment when the inspector was there because she had used her stove to warm up her apartment before the inspector showed up. Latson is scheduled for another heat inspection in the near future.

Britton says he sent a certified letter to the property manager last Monday demanding to fix the building conditions. He also asked to set up a meeting with company representatives and tenants. But so far, he says he has not received a response.