Residents of Crystal Towers in Winston-Salem are having trouble leaving their homes because elevators in the building are in need of repair.Elevators at Crystal Towers have been having issues since November, making life much harder for older and disabled residents of the building.One of the residents WXII spoke to says it’s frustrating."When you have things to take care of outside of your apartment, it's frustrating," says resident Samuel Grier. "You’re gonna have to walk down 11 flights of steps. I gotta stop and rest because I get tired. I'm not as young as I used to be."Seventy-six-year-old Grier lives on the top floor of crystal towers. He says he and some of his neighbors feel stranded with the elevators out of commission."Everything is supposed to be functional," says Grier. "In the case of Crystal Towers at this moment, everything is not functional."The executive director of the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem says they’re working with an elevator repair company to fix and eventually replace the elevators. Kevin Cheshire says there are multiple factors as to why the elevators are breaking down, such as the age of the buildings and their infrastructure."The age of the system contributes to the inability to sort of get original parts," he says. "Some of the parts had to be manufactured or fabricated aftermarket."Cheshire says Crystal Towers is facing an issue that’s not uncommon for affordable housing."Across the industry, we don't have sufficient capital funds to meet the backlog of capital needs," says Cheshire. "So when you have buildings that were built in the middle of the last century, and you have significant systems that start to break down, there's not a tool to address that."Grier says he wants the housing authority to be transparent with the process of the repairs because he says some of the residents have nowhere else to go."I’m here until they throw me out," says Grier. "I’m here for the long haul."The housing authority says the elevators should be replaced by early April.