In the two months since Stevie Wheels moved into the Ruth Lillian Barkley public housing complex in Boston’s South End, he says the elevator has been broken four different times.
The Air Force veteran, who is in his late 60s, is a double amputee and uses a power wheelchair. He said he feels unsafe, that living on the sixth floor with a broken elevator is like existing in a “death trap.” What if there was a fire and he couldn’t get out?
So when Wheels noticed the elevator was broken on Wednesday, he decided to shimmy down the six flights of stairs on his behind with his backup manual wheelchair and go to South Station, where he regularly hangs out. He slept outside, where he felt safer.
“It was raining, it was cold, it was wet, raw,’’ he said. “But it was OK.”
It was a frustrating experience, but not surprising, according to advocates. The same apartment complex has had multiple elevator breakdowns over the last several years, leaving disabled and elderly residents stranded. The incident has renewed frustrations about broken elevators in public housing in Boston. Many of the elevators were installed decades ago in buildings that were built more than half a century ago.
The BHA was fined more than $350,000 earlier this month over repeated elevator outages at another building in the same housing complex. Although the authority will only pay part of the fine, it was considered a “rare” acknowledgement about the seriousness of the problem.
On Wednesday night, Suzanne Fareri-Early got a call about Wheels at South Station. Fareri-Early, who runs the Boston-based group COPE — Community Offering People Encouragement — contacted City Councilor Ed Flynn, who then contacted Dawn Oates, a disability advocate. Oates went to meet Wheels at South Station, where he said he was stranded without his blood thinner medication.
Since Wheels doesn’t have a phone, Oates tried to contact the Boston Housing Authority late Wednesday night to get Wheels a hotel room. But she said the staff on duty didn’t know what to do and couldn’t get a hold of the right person to make a decision. They told her she could call the fire department to carry Wheels upstairs.
So Wheels slept outside South Station in the rain. Thursday morning, Oates picked him up and brought him back to the complex, where the elevator was working with a temporary part.
In a statement to GBH News, a BHA spokesperson said it had staff on site Wednesday night to help residents and get them connected with hotel rooms.
“Unfortunately, the first call concerning his case was made to BHA from an advocate after 11pm without a resident name being shared, and the BHA’s call-backs then went unanswered,” they said. “We are working with the relevant service providers and advocates to understand why this resident did not successfully connect with the available resources, and we will continue to ensure that all residents are appropriately served in any such future situation.”
Oates described the situation as an example of communication breakdowns that have frustrated public housing residents for years. According to the BHA’s elevator protocol, the BHA must provide residents with a hotel or other place to stay if an elevator is broken and expected to remain so for two days or more.
“This could have been prevented, but the chain of command — the hierarchy — doesn’t appear to have been used,” Oates said. “This is a breakdown, again, in communication. ... It’s not malicious, it’s just poor training and accountability and oversight.”
Flynn, who visited Wheels on Thursday, has repeatedly called for an investigation into elevators across Boston’s public housing complexes. He sent another letter to Mayor Michelle Wu Thursday.
Flynn, who is also a disabled veteran, said the problem is a “civil rights issue” and the city needs to take it seriously.
“The way the government is treating him now is unconscionable — disrespectful and embarrassing,’’ he said.
Flynn said Wheels “deserves to live with some dignity and respect.”
Before moving into the apartment complex, Wheels says he was living on the streets for seven years. Fareri-Early pointed out that, even though Wheels had finally found stable housing, he still ended up sleeping on the street.
“What if I didn’t step in?” she said. “And for that building to have no responsibility for the people who are in it, a double amputee, … what if something happened? It’s just absolutely all wrong.”
When GBH News visited Wheels Friday morning, the elevator wasn’t working again, without any signs or announcements to let residents know. After walking up the stairs to the sixth floor, a reporter saw two maintenance workers starting to fix it. The elevator still wasn’t running when the reporter left around 9:45 a.m.
The Boston Housing Authority says Wheels was told about Friday’s planned elevator outage, but Wheels said he didn’t know it was coming.
“That should have been done before I even got here,” Wheels said.
Wheels says he still feels unsafe in a building with an elevator he can’t trust.
“After this, I’m ready to roll outta here,” he said. “Go back to the streets since it ain’t worth staying here.”
