Elderly veteran forced to stay in hotel due to broken elevator in Queens building

KEW GARDENS, Queens (WABC) -- An 82-year-old veteran from Queens has been forced to stay in a hotel for more than a month because of a broken elevator in his building.

He uses a walker to get around and says he can't climb the stairs in the Kew Gardens building.

Now he's paying thousands of dollars a week for a place to sleep each night.

82-year-old Ronald Peters needs a walker to get around, so when the elevator went out in the building where he lives on the sixth floor, he had no choice.

"I was forced to leave my house," Peters said.

That was December 7, 2016. The elevator is still out. Peters is still staying at a Holiday Inn Express and has racked up more than $8,000 in bills.

"My apartment is on the sixth floor and there are 85 steps and I have a walker," Peters said.

The problem is, there is only one elevator in the building so in order to fix it they had to shut it down. That sent many residents, many who are senior citizens, headed for the stairway.

"In my case it's very difficult, I had a triple bypass a few years back and I've been struggling up the stairs, trying to get out for doctors' visits and such. It's been very difficult," said Sidney Tesher, a resident.

Mr. Tesher says building management just doesn't even seem to care.

"We just tried to ask them to put chairs on the landing to help the seniors rest in between floors, we never got a reply back on that," Tesher said, "They don't communicate, we can't get them to return phone calls, so it's a very frustrating situation."

They wouldn't communicate with Eyewitness News either. PSRS Realty Group did not return Eyewitness News' repeated phone calls.

Meanwhile, Mr. Peters hasn't seen his wife in more than a month.

"She has been in the house for 45 days, she has not been out of the house," Peters said.