A Sudbury woman with a disability says the year-long elevator shutdown in her apartment building is limiting many residents’ daily activities because they have no choice but to climb the stairs.
For the past decade, Andrea Gustafson — who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition that weakens the body’s connective tissue — has lived on the fifth floor of a five-storey apartment at 285 Lourdes Street, near downtown Sudbury.
The building’s sole elevator was taken out of service for repairs in November 2024. Gustafson says the outage has left many elderly and disabled tenants struggling to get in and out of the building.
“We understood that this was going to take a little bit, it wasn’t gonna happen overnight, but we’re now one year into it and all the disabled people who live in this building, the tenants, we’re really struggling. We’re in pain. We’re having a really tough go,” she said.
Gustafson said tenants have repeatedly raised the issue with building management, but communication has been inconsistent.
Centreville Non-Profit Housing owns the building, which is managed by Luxor Property Management.
Cory Vaillancourt, a property manager with Luxor, said in a statement to CBC News that the delay is due to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) not approving the newly installed elevator by KONE Canada.
“At this point, we are dependent on TSSA’s approval,” Vaillancourt said in the statement.
During an inspection in September, the TSSA identified several issues that needed correction before the elevator could “be safely put into service,” according to Gary Chan, a TSSA spokesperson.
The contractor, KONE Canada, is responsible for scheduling a re-inspection but has not done so yet, he said.
“The elevator will be out of service until we can verify that all outstanding issues have been fully resolved and the device is safe to use,” Chan said.
KONE Canada received CBC’s request for comment but did not respond before publication.
Tenants of the building also contacted Greater Sudbury’s By-law Services.
“While this is not a city property, City of Greater Sudbury By-law Services continues to work with the property owners to bring the building into compliance,” a city spokesperson said.
Gustafson says the outage has forced her to forgo routine tasks on days when using the stairs is too painful.
“So in order to do anything, in order to go out in public, in order to do my laundry or check my mail or anything like that, I need to come downstairs and I’d prefer to use the elevator, but right now I’m forced to use the stairs,” she said.
She says the outage is also creating financial strain.
“I’ve had to pay somebody to do my laundry… that’s like $20 a load. And for people who are on assistance or on disability, that’s a big chunk of change,” she said.
“I have to have a subscription to something like Instacart. They’re the only service in town that I know of that will actually bring my groceries upstairs. Otherwise I would have to do it on my own, which I can’t do.”
As for what she hopes will happen next, Gustafson said she “would like our elevator back.”
