A demonstration will take place today against the poor living conditions of sheltered housing run by Hyde Housing Group in Brighton.
Some residents of The Orchards have reportedly not left their home for six weeks due to the delayed lift repair work.
Brighton Journal spoke to local campaigner and organiser of the protest, Mitchie Alexander, who believes the health and safety of the residents at The Orchards has been compromised.
Mrs Alexander said: “We must take this action to force them into fixing the lift immediately and to ensure that does not keep happening.”
Many people in the sheltered housing have limited mobility and rely on the lift to gain access to the outside of the building.
Mrs Alexander also said it has come to her attention there are at least three other housing blocks in Brighton with broken lifts and trapped tenants.
Brighton Journal approached Hyde Housing Group for comment, who released the following statement:
Judith Page, Interim Director of Compliance at the Hyde Group said: “We ask our residents to accept our sincere apologies that we have not yet fixed this issue.
“It is turning out to be much more complicated than we would ordinarily expect.”
“Engineers have visited The Orchards on numerous occasions to get to the bottom of the issue and unfortunately, due to its complexity we cannot give a completion date at this time.”
She added: “We do understand how frustrating this is for our residents and please be assured we are doing everything we can to solve the problem as soon as possible.”
“As an interim measure, we have ordered a stairlift to be installed as a matter of urgency to help with access while the problem with the lift is resolved.”
“Our staff will be on hand during this difficult time to help in any way they can.”
The protest will take place outside the Hyde Housing Group Building on Preston Road on Thursday 27th September from 2pm.
