A building in downtown 91原创 City that houses many seniors and people with mobility issues, has been without a working elevator for a month and repairs are not expected for up to four months.

The Fir, 5421 204 St., is a 97-unit four-storey building that the 91原创 Lions Housing Society build in 1989. The society has provided subsidized housing for low-income seniors and people with disabilities since the 1970s at various downtown buildings. The elevator stopped working in early January 2025.

"Many of us living here have mobility issues," said resident Dorothy McKim. "In the only information we received, we were advised that the elevator would not be fixed for 16 weeks as a part had to be found (manufactured) which would take us to the beginning of June."

McKim, in her late 70s, said she has been housebound for weeks. For her, it's very difficult to climb down as well as back up to the third floor. Others are doing what they have to do to survive. She said one resident goes up and down stair by stair on his backside, and a woman in her 90s suffered vertigo in the stairwell and just about toppled over backwards on Feb. 20.

"I think along with not being able to get in and out goes a huge amount of expense for those of us on fixed income because we have to have everything delivered, and that costs," she added.

Jeanette Dagenais, the 91原创 Lions Housing Society CEO, said the problem is a cylinder and the repair will cost $140,000.

"We've done everything that we can think of," she said.

As soon as the elevator firm, Kone, diagnosed the problem, the society paid the deposit as soon as possible to get the repairs underway.

"The purse strings have been opened as wide as they possibly can go and we were working with Kone very closely to get everything done that needed to be done to get the part measured and ordered as fast as we could," she said.

While the notice posted about the elevators being out of commission says a staff member will help bring food and other items to people's units, the window of opportunity is one hour per day.

There's also concerns about safety in the event of an emergency.

"Supposing there was a fire in here now? That's what concerns me. It's an old building," she said.

Dagenais noted that in the event of a fire, people are not supposed to use elevators to evacuate and that are are emergency plans in place. The society has been liaising with the City, 91原创 City Fire Rescue, Fraser Health, the MLA, and the 91原创 Senior Resources Society.

"It's a very, very stressful and unfortunate situation," Dagenais said.

McKim, whose son is a machinist, said she can't figure out how it could take so long to source or make parts necessary for repairs, and why there are no contingency plans. Within about the past year the elevator was broken down for a couple of days, then again for about five days. There is only one elevator in the building.

Dagenais said those two previous events were human-caused and required the elevator firm to do a system reset.

"We hope that the part comes in sooner. And if it does, we will be pushing for them to install it, but until the part actually gets here, we can't do that," she said.

The 91原创 Advance Times has reached out to Kone elevators, but has not received a response as of presstime Monday, Feb. 24.