Tariffs impact utility repairs at Yonkers complex that hasn’t had gas since Aug. 2024

Tariffs are taking a toll on repairing a major utility outage at a housing complex in Yonkers. It has left residents there without gas since last summer.

Melanie Palmer

Apr 23, 2025, 2:14 AM

Updated 5 hr ago

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President Donald Trump’s tariffs are taking a toll on the ongoing utility outage repairs at a housing complex in Yonkers that has left residents without gas since last summer.
The Palisade Towers housing complex in Yonkers is Nancy Harris' home.
"This is where I was brought up," says Harris.
But she's fed up.
"This is sad, sad. We can't even cook," Harris tells News 12.
Hundreds of tenants there have not had gas since Aug. 2024 when a series of leaks were found in a main line.
Since then, residents have been given hot plates and convection ovens.
Officials with the city and housing authority have been working to switch over the utility from gas to electric. They were hoping to start work in June – then the tariffs were announced.
"The original 'RFP' that we put out, a lot of our responders/vendors were nervous because of the announcement of federal tariffs being put in place," says Yonkers City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy.
The RFP is being reissued.
The new deadline is now May 22 for bidders to submit their proposals for doing the work. That means the work likely won't start until early July, according to officials with the city.
Despite that, officials say their goal is still to have all the buildings switched to electric by December.
"We're all eager to get this work done because we want the families to have the ability to cook in their homes," says Collins-Bellamy.