Some residents of Brooklyn's Marcy Houses are balancing their personal health against the difficulties of relocating after a steam leak deposited asbestos-laden residue on the exterior walls of two adjoining buildings there, and covered many of their windows with the white dust.

Workers from the New York City Housing Authority and the city Department of Environmental Protection were at 502 and 504 Marcy Ave. — two of the 27 buildings in the sprawling Bedford-Stuyvesant complex — responding to the incident on Thursday. NYCHA officials said the steam came from an exhaust vent for an underground line that connects with mobile boilers. Part of the apparatus sticks up from the ground and is surrounded by a wooden safety barrier, which residents have been concerned about for some time.

Some told Gothamist they had seen the steam billowing up for weeks or longer, and that it had been leaving a white powder on their windows.

“The steam kept coming up, real white steam. It would cover the windows. We can't look out our kitchen window or the room window facing that way,” said Digna Torres, 75, whose apartment was along the affected exterior wall. “And all of a sudden, the windows got white. I mean white white. You can't even look out the window.”

NYCHA officials said in a statement the residue tested positive for asbestos, and that residents of 23 affected apartments — those along the exterior walls of the buildings — had been offered temporary relocations. Four have relocated, officials said.