CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Residents living in a Section 8 housing complex off Ayers Street said they feel trapped in their upper-floor apartments because of faulty elevators.
Many of these residents are elderly and disabled and are seeking help.
Currently, residents have to make their way up and down to their second-floor apartments by taking the stairs and using their canes.
Clairelane Gardens Apartment resident Edelia Medina said she has to navigate the steps of her Section 8 housing complex using her cane. She's had two complete knee replacements over the past four years, something she said makes it difficult to move around her apartment without a fully working elevator.
"We have to walk up and down the stairs. I can't even take my walker. I am walking with a cane that doesn't help me cause I don't have stableness in my body yet," she said.
A number of residents spoke with 3NEWS about the issue of the elevator. One is a partially blind man and fellow resident Virginia Garcia said she needs help to get up and down the stairs to visit her friends.
"I think they should have more security or more maintenance and I think it would do a little bit better," she said.
3NEWS found that a second elevator is also out of service at the complex. Each elevator serves three apartment buildings and their second-floor residents.
Corpus Christi Housing Authority CEO Gary Allsup said he was unaware that the elevators were broken right now but said it's a common problem.
"They do get vandalized, unfortunately quite often and we do have to fix them quite often, but they are under contract and anytime we know about an elevator that is down is under contract it's fixed that day," he said.
Corpus Christi City Councilman Jim Klein said all parties are working to fix the elevators.
"We need to talk to city staff about that whether it's the Housing Authority or some other department; we need to make sure that thing gets fixed," he said.
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