Elderly Gold Coast residents trapped inside Southport high-rise

“I’m out of breath all the time”: Multiple elderly people have been trapped inside a Gold Coast unit block since ex-cyclone Alfred, with freedom still possibly weeks away.

Multiple vulnerable elderly people have been trapped inside a Gold Coast unit block since ex-cyclone Alfred, with freedom still possibly weeks away.

The 33-unit, six storey ‘Pavetta’ apartment block on Queen St, Southport has been without lift access since March 7.

Resident Stephen Maxwell Price said he was one of the “lucky ones”, still able to use the fire stairs, albeit a 70-year-old on the waiting list for heart surgery.

“I’m out of breath all the time,” he said.

“I’m 70 on the list for heart surgery and every single day I’ve got to use these stairs.”

Mr Price has to climb up eight flights of stairs to access his home, and has been told he and other residents – many in their late 80s – will need to wait until a lift part arrives from overseas.

The building is owned and operated by the Churches of Christ Housing Services.

Mr Price said the organisation had offered to put residents into a hotel, but those with pets had no alternative accommodation options provided to them.

120-122 Queen St Southport. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“There’s people who are 89, mid 80s who can’t get out,” he said.

“They offered a hotel to people but there’s only one or two apartments here that haven’t got an animal, so quite a few people haven’t even set foot out their door.”

The resident said a chaplain had been making routine checks on residents, running supplies over from Queen Street Village, but the maintenance delay was just not good enough.

Mr Price said he was frustrated and fed up because there was “no reason” the part required for the lift shouldn’t be easily available.

“The lifts are Schindler – they’ve got offices everywhere – but when it comes to maintenance issues, who knows where they get their parts from,” Mr Price said.

A Churches of Christ spokesperson said they acknowledged the impact the issue was having on their social housing residents.

“Our lift service provider attended the site promptly to assess damage and progress repairs,” the spokesperson said.

“Our staff spoke with impacted residents to consider their individual circumstances and provide assistance to ensure all residents can safely access their properties while lift services are unavailable. We continue to work with our lift service provider and are hopeful that the lift will be operational sooner than expected.”

It is not yet known when the lift will be back in order.

Originally published as Elderly Gold Coast residents trapped inside Southport high-rise