DETROIT – The Washington Boulevard Building Senior Apartments in downtown Detroit has no working elevator, leading to people climbing dozens of stairs to get home.
Local 4 spoke to frustrated residents and spoke to the city as they work to provide help and resources.
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One tenant, Robert Berry, is on dialysis. He says this isn’t just exhausting, it’s a health hurdle.
He has dialysis three times a week. One of those days is Saturday.
“I leave at 5:30 in the morning, and I have to be there at the center,” Berry said inside his apartment
By the afternoon, frustration had turned into a full-on meeting. Robert and several neighbors sat down with Local 4 on Saturday.
Miss Charlotte lives on the 14th floor, Ronda lives on the 7th, Georgia lives on the 18th, and Denise and James are on the 17th.
Most are at least over 75 and have called this building home for a decade or so.
“They are not repairing them and if they are, they are doing a really horrible job at it,” one resident said. “Now, this time, it’s taken up our entire elevator system. We are already down two elevators that they don’t have and our fire suppression system went off for seven hours last night.”
Management says the elevator went down after a pipe burst overnight, sending water flooding into the lobby and other areas. Apartment management says crews are drying out the elevator pit and they hope service is restored early next week.
“We are working with the residents. As you can see, there are groceries over there for a resident that needs groceries,” Jim Harrigan, the executive vice president at Independent Management Services, said.
Management says they did not know about Berry’s situation, but that they plan to help him get to his next dialysis appointment on Tuesday.
The city is trying to help too.
The Housing and Revitalization Department say they are providing home cooked meals and the city’s senior advocate is doing wellness checks.
“This level of collaboration is the standard for the Mary Sheffield administration,” Mayor Mary Sheffield’s Chief of Staff David Bowser said.
Tenants say the complaints don’t stop at the stairs.
They say the hallways have been cold, and that elevator outages have happened before.
Management confirmed part of the hallway heat is out, but insists the elevators have otherwise been operating normally.
Still, Ronda Peete and her neighbors say they’re done waiting, and they’re putting it in writing with a petition.
“Our elevators are always down and we have 21 floors. Some people are not able to get up and down,” Peete said while reading the petition.
The city says any renter with issues can call the Detroit Housing Network at (866) 313-2520.