MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A 72-year-old man who has been living at Serenity Towers since 2015 says he was stranded on the ninth floor with no working elevators for days, unable to get his meals or even move out.
Elmer Montgomery lives on the ninth floor of Serenity Towers and says elevators help him get
around. However, up until Friday morning, he was confined to his room.
The elevators have now been fixed, but he says the issue delayed his move-out date.
► MORE ON SERENITY TOWERS
“I was supposed to move Monday. I found a new location, I found it last week, signed the lease and all, and they gave me a move-out date of the 17th. Seventeenth came around, no elevators, so I have been stuck up there since,” Montgomery said.
He says he was also unable to receive basic needs.
“Last Saturday when the elevators went out, we had no way of getting off that ninth floor, I didn’t. I receive Meals on Wheels, the Meals on Wheels people wouldn’t walk up nine flights,” Montgomery said.
A friend of Montgomery’s was able to get in contact with Mayor Paul Young’s office and meals were delivered to his home this week.
However, broken elevators at Serenity Towers are just one of the issues Your News Leader has uncovered.
Serenity Towers tenants set to move due to elevator issues
For years, the WREG investigators have exposed unsafe living conditions at the property.
In January, an environmental court judge ruled the building is "uninhabitable" and a chronic nuisance. The City of Memphis must vacate the building and relocate residents by May 23.
City plans to vacate Serenity Towers before summer
For the time being, Montgomery hopes to see some changes.
“What they need to do is be more conscious of the needs of the tenants here. A lot of us, have eating issues, feeding issues, and a bit more concerns. For the most part, they’re tryna help the people, but some people they just turn their back on," Montogermy said.
WREG reached out to Serenity Towers about the broken elevators but they did not have any comment about the matter. ...read more read less
