Landlord's Reluctance To Implement Permanent Fix For Aging, Often-Broken Elevators In 11-Story, 170-Unit Federally-Assisted Apartment Complex For The Elderly May Be Matter Of Life Or Death For Frail & Disabled Tenants; Congresswoman Calls For Temporary Evacuation

In Ypsilanti, Michigan, Michigan Radio reports:

• Residents of Towne Centre Place(1) in Ypsilanti are fed up.
  
  For the past year, people living in the 11-story apartment complex for disabled and elderly residents have had to stay home for up to half a day at a time, sometimes several times a week, because the elevators stopped working -- or else brave the stairs and hope the elevators are working again when they get back home.
  
  79-year old Sarah McChristian lives on the 11th floor. She has arthritis, but says if necessary, she can walk down 11 flights, and even walk back up -- with lots of stops on the way to catch her breath.
  
  "My heart just goes out to the people who can't walk down the stairs," says McChristian, "and I know that it could be a matter of life and death."
  
  McChristian says one man recently had a heart attack and had to be brought out of his apartment window by firefighters because the elevators were down again. "That could happen to anyone," she says. "It could happen to me."
  
  Alma Jackson Ogletree also lives on the 11th floor. She is 91 years old and must use a walker or a wheelchair to get around.
  
  She says she sometimes has to call her son to bring her food or medicine when the elevators are not working.
  
  McChristian says a number of residents are considering filing a lawsuit. During a meeting with an attorney, they were told it would cost Towne Centre Place $300,000 to replace the aging elevators, "and the owners don't want to spend the money."
  
  Congresswoman Debbie Dingell has also gotten involved. She's asked the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to find temporary housing for residents until the situation is fixed.(2)
  
  ***
  Michigan Radio sent a reporter to the apartment complex on August 12. Only one elevator was working, and signs warned that only two people should use it at a time, or only one person in a wheelchair.

For more, see Where "the elevators are out" could be a matter of life or death.

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(1) According to the landlord's website, Towne Centre Place is federally-assisted, 170-unit elderly family community.

(2) Congresswoman calls for temporary evacuation of troubled Ypsilanti senior tower:

• [T]he situation "resulted in great hardship and at times dangerous conditions" to the complex's 170 residents, many of whom are elderly, disabled, and receiving Section 8 assistance, Dingell wrote. [... O]fficials say the functioning elevator is only a two-person elevator that can't support emergency personnel and a medical gurney.