INDIANAPOLIS — Safety concerns are a growing frustration for people living in an Indianapolis housing complex.
It is not the first time our cameras have been in the building at Lugar Tower to show you the growing list of problems taking place.
WATCH | Lugar Tower residents file lawsuit citing unhealthy safety concerns
People who live there once again reached out to WRTV's Rachael Wilkerson after a terrifying mishap in the building. They say an elevator dropped several floors with residents and children on it.
"I got stuck in the elevator and the elevator dropped from 15 floor to first causing me to have a back and knee injury," said Cynthia Bell. "I had to go to the hospital."
JaShonda Neal said she had a scary ride to her 12th floor apartment this month.
She said her cousin recorded a elevator starts to shake. It then dropped while she, a child, and a 9 month old baby were on-board. "I was scared. I was scared for the babies," said Neal.
"I just heard boom, boom. I heard screaming and hollering and her babies were in there," said Bell.
Neal isn't the only Lugar Tower resident sharing concerns.
"Oh, it dropped me. I was talking to the Lord. It dropped me," said Tony Bright. "I pushed the button to go down, all the lights came on, it started shaking and I was there for about a minute then it descended on down."
Tony Bright said people living there are afraid of the elevator. Lugar Tower is a senior property, and residents rely on it to work properly.
When WRTV checked on Tuesday, we found one elevator is out of order. A second one is operational, and the license is still valid.
The Bradley Company manages the property, but it is overseen by the Indianapolis Housing Agency.
In April, the city of Indianapolis and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took over IHA.
In the past, IHA was responsible for paying the bills, issuing housing vouchers, and more. It lost that privilege after what was called years of mismanagement of funds.
"There is nothing really being done. I am not faulting Bradley because they are doing all they can do. This is going back to the root of the problem, IHA. All the properties seem they are going through what we are going through, some are much worse because of gun violence," said Bright.
Residents say they have not seen much in the way of improvements.
WATCH | New lawsuit filed against IHA, Lugar Tower property manager
"They should care more about residents they have in low income housing properties do more, listen more to their tenants, speak more to their tenants and try to solve issues across IHA period," said Neal.
The city said IHA was not made aware of the elevator outage at Lugar Tower and would call to speak to the property manager ASAP.
Rachael also asked about a cyber attack on IHA telephone systems, computers and vouchers.
Here is their response:
Q: Lugar Tower Elevator outage:
A: At this time, IHA has not been made aware of any elevator outage at Lugar Tower. We have a call into the Lugar Tower property manager as we speak. We do know that there was an elevator outage at Indiana Avenue that is being addressed.
Q: Where do things stand with the cyber attack?
A: Since the cyber security incident in January, IHA telephone systems and computers have been down.
IHA is almost to the point of these systems being operational again.
IHA just launched a secure online form for Section 8 Housing Reimbursement to better assist landlords.
This form hopes to remedy many of the issues that have impacted IHA’s ability to issue voucher payments.
IHA expects its phone system to be operational in the near future.
In the meantime, residents can find the most up-to-date contact information, including phone numbers, on the IHA website.
IHA staff regularly listen to voicemails and will respond.
IHA also encourages residents to fill out the customer service satisfaction survey on the website to share their honest feedback.
One of IHA’s goals has been to improve customer service and residents’ feedback on those surveys help IHA know where they can continue to make improvements.
As a reminder, no data or information was compromised during the January cyber security incident.
Q: What changes have been made since the takeover?
A: IHA will soon start to move forward with its capital fund program.
This means that residents will start to see improvements at properties.
IHA is also getting more direct, onsite support from HUD.
HUD appointed Willie C. Howard Garrett to serve as IHA CEO. He’s been in the role since July 1.
This appointment allows for additional oversight on a day-to-day basis at IHA.
Q: How can residents get help?
A: IHA CEO Garrett says one of his biggest priorities is to increase customer service for residents.
Vouchers for landlords
Residents should call the provided phone numbers on the IHA website and complete the customer service satisfaction survey to share their feedback.
IHA and the Information Services Agency of the City of Indianapolis and Marion County launched a secure online form for Section 8 Housing Reimbursement to better assist landlords.
This form hopes to remedy many of the issues caused by January’s system outage, which impacted the ability to issue voucher payments.
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the City of Indianapolis are committed to enhancing the support and services available to low-income households in Marion County,” said Kimberly Wize, IHA Board. “The secure online form is a step forward in ensuring that IHA will better meet the needs of both residents and landlords.”
According to the agency, IHA landlords will receive a notification via email and direct mail to provide accurate payment information for housing assistance payments. They will be required to respond within 15 days of notice by completing a secure form hosted on the City of Indianapolis website.
Submissions will then be processed for the rest of July and the month of August, with payment cycles updating in September.
IHA landlords can get additional support by emailing landlord@indyhousing.org.
In addition, IHA landlords will receive a joint letter issued by IHA and the City of Indianapolis informing them of their Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contract obligations and tenant protections under the HAP agreement.
The Bradley Company released the following statement:
Our team is working diligently to address the freight elevator repairs. We have installed a new control board and AC unit in the control room to prevent overheating. The vendor is performing an in-depth evaluation to identify any additional maintenance needs. While repairs continue, we kindly ask residents to use the main elevator. We are committed to resolving this as quickly as possible while upholding our standard of high-quality, affordable housing for our residents.
On Wednesday night, Lugar Tower residents say rain has brought more issues for the elevator. The following video shared with WRTV shows water coming down in the functioning elevator.
