Renovation Of Only Elevator In Residential Building Threatens To Trap Elderly, Low-Income, Terminally Ill Renter In His 7th Floor Apartment For Five Months; After Landlord Allegedly Denies A Reasonable Accommodation Request, Tenant Responds By Belting Him w/ Fair Housing Lawsuit

In New York City, the New York Daily News reports:

• A Chinatown landlord’s construction plans could trap a terminally ill man in his apartment for five months, in addition to trapping other disabled and elderly tenants, a new lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court alleges.
  
  Chee Sum Ng, 64, has end-stage renal disease and must receive dialysis three-to-four times per week.
  
  Ng’s landlord recently told residents of 173 Henry St. that the building’s only elevator would be replaced this week — and that the lift wouldn’t run for five months.
  
  Ng “cannot reasonably climb the seven flights of stairs to his apartment because he suffers from end-stage renal disease,” his lawyers, from Legal Services NYC’s Manhattan program and Asian Americans for Equality, said in a statement.
  
  Many tenants in the building’s 43 rent-stabilized apartments find themselves in similar positions, they say.
  
  When residents asked the landlord, King Henry Realty, Inc., for “reasonable” accommodations so they wouldn’t get stuck, the answer was no — because management had already put down a hefty deposit for the project, the suit alleges.
  
  Ng learned several weeks ago just how life-or-death elevator access is. Ng had to get dialysis, but the elevator wasn’t working — so he tried braving the stairs. He fell “after only one flight” and suffered a black eye and bloody nose, among other injuries.
  
  “When the elevator was shut off before, I hurt myself badly going down the stairs, and it took me an hour to climb back up after my dialysis,” Ng said in a statement. “I’m afraid that if my landlord shuts down the elevator, I won’t be able to get the treatments I need to live.”
  
  Ng wants his landlord to hold off on elevator replacement until they can agree to accommodations, such as a ground-floor apartment.
  
  A judge earlier this week granted a temporary restraining order barring the landlord from shutting down the elevator.
  
  “This is a clear case of discrimination against an elderly and disabled tenant,” said Anita Wu, staff attorney at Manhattan Legal Services.
  
  “Mr. Ng will die if his landlord heartlessly removes the only elevator in the building without providing him with reasonable accommodations so that he can get his life-sustaining dialysis treatments.”
  
  King Henry Realty could not be reached for comment.

Source: Housing activists fight to keep elevator working for sick Manhattan man.

See also, Terminally Ill Chinatown Tenant Fights Elevator Stoppage That Would Trap Him in His Apartment:

• Legal Services NYC’s Manhattan program and Asian Americans for Equality have filed a federal lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act and New York State and City human rights laws in connection with a planned elevator outage that would effectively trap an elderly, low-income, terminally-ill tenant in his home for five months.
  
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  Mr. Ng is seeking reasonable accommodations (for example, an apartment on the ground floor of the building or on any floor of a nearby building with elevator access) and for the defendants to postpone removal of the elevator until such accommodations can be agreed upon.