A New York City Housing Authority building’s elevator service issues have left some residents trapped inside of their homes.
Residents of the Mitchell Houses say the elevators have had issues and have been out of service or unreliable for several months. The situation has left the building’s disabled residents either stranded in their homes or left in the lobby for hours at a time.
Resident Donna Jackson, who lives on the 17th floor and uses a walker, says that there is only one currently working elevator. She says it is unreliable on most days, like last weekend when she was left in the lobby for four hours.
“It’s bad because I have a lot of doctor’s appointments where I have to be at the cancer center a lot… and I can’t get downstairs,” said Jackson.
The second elevator in the building has a work order that shows it’s been out of order since February, and that the restoration date is marked for July 20, even though it is still out of service.
News 12 has reached out to the New York City Housing Authority, which says the elevator is seeing a high increase in use, resulting in more wear and tear. They say they’re working with the vendor to ensure it is maintained and prevent future outages while they work to restore service as quickly as possible.
