Disabled Brooklyn tenants sue landlord over broken elevators, wheelchair lift and months without gas
For Theresa Ballenger, a trip home can mean carrying groceries up five flights of stairs when the elevator at 1933 Union St. is out of service.
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Tenants at a Crown Heights apartment building have filed a federal lawsuit against their landlord, alleging years of unreliable elevators, a broken wheelchair lift and months without cooking gas have made daily life difficult especially for residents with disabilities.
For Theresa Ballenger, a trip home can mean carrying groceries up five flights of stairs when the elevator at 1933 Union St. is out of service.
"The elevator is off and on all the time," Ballenger said.
Residents say their challenges extend beyond elevator outages. Tenants say the building has been without cooking gas since October, forcing many to rely on hot plates to prepare meals.
Now, several tenants are suing landlord Claudette Henry and the building's management company, SHINDA, in federal court. The lawsuit alleges disabled residents have been harmed by unreliable elevators and accessibility issues, including a wheelchair lift that tenants say has been out of service for an extended period.
Henry is ranked as number eight on the cities top ten bad landlords list.
Among the plaintiffs is Charlene McDuffie, who said she suffers from severe arthritis and recently underwent back surgery.
"I have no other choice," McDuffie said of joining the lawsuit. "It is very overwhelming."
The Legal Aid Society, which represents the tenants, said it also filed a case in Brooklyn Housing Court over the prolonged loss of cooking gas.
"These tenants have tried repeatedly to resolve the issue on their own," attorney Maddie Reichman of the Legal Aid Society said. "We sent a demand letter. We didn't receive any response to that. So we really had no choice but to file the lawsuit."
The federal lawsuit seeks repairs and other relief for residents.
SHINDA Management did not respond to News 12's request for comment.
Tenants say they hope the legal action will finally bring lasting improvements to the building and restore reliable access to essential services.
