Failure To Modernize Faulty Elevators Causes Concern Over Possible Emergencies For Tenants In 8-Story Section 8 Housing Complex For Low-Income Elderly & Disabled Persons

In Weston, West Virginia, WDTV-TV Channel 5 reports:

• So-called consistently broken-down elevators have some residents at a Weston apartment building worried. The subsidized housing is home to many with disabilities. They fear if an emergency happens and the elevators aren't accessible they won't be able to get out of the building.
  
  Mason Herrald lived at Weston Arbors for six years and says every time one or both elevators were repaired they'd just break down again. He says his friends who are disabled and can't get up and down stairs are trapped in their apartments when this happens.
  
  "Time is essence when there's an emergency such as a heart attack or a breathing condition," Herrald said.
  
  Herrald fears the eight-floor, project-based section 8 housing designed for elderly and disabled people won't always be so lucky as to not have an emergency when the elevators are down. He worries about his friend who's a veteran and had a knee replacement last week and the woman he knows who has a heart condition, struggles with obesity, and is in a wheel chair.
  
  "It would be terrible if she were to have a heart attack," he said. "It would be difficult to extract her from that building, take her down four or five flights of steps. And by the time that were to happen..."
  
  One resident brings up the people he knows who have trouble breathing and rely on the elevators. This man is frustrated too and fears for his neighbors' safety. He doesn't want to be named.

For more, see So-called recurring elevator problems worry friends of disabled apartment residents.

Editor's Note: The landlord may be setting himself up for a fair housing lawsuit in this case if reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities are not provided for. See, for example:

• State Human Rights Cops Tag NYCHA With Fair Housing Suit (Alleging It Failed To Reasonably Accommodate Disabled 3rd Floor Tenant With Ground Floor Apartment During 13-Week Shutdown Of Building's Elevators For Modernization);
  .
• Landlord Of Federally Financed & Rent-Subsidized 3-Story Building Housing Poor Senior Citizens Takes 5+ Weeks To Fix Broken Elevator; Renters Respond w/ Fair Housing Suit (Alleging Failure To Make Timely Repairs & Provide Reasonable Accommodations For Residents w/ Disabilities While Equipment Was Inoperative).