Tenants, housing activists rally against delayed repairs at Crystal Towers

Around 40 tenants and housing activists of a downtown housing complex gathered at a Housing Authority of Winston-Salem, or HAWS, meeting Tuesday to protest delayed repairs.

Work is currently underway at Crystal Towers to renovate the elevator system and laundry room. Repairs were contracted last year after plans to sell the complex ended. 

Samuel Grier has lived at the complex for more than a decade. He says repairs are not moving as fast as residents were promised by officials.

"We want to pressure the housing authority and the mayor of the city of Winston-Salem to get on their job and do what they said they were going to do," Grier says.

Residents were joined by Housing Justice Now, a local tenant rights advocacy group, to protest the delays.

HAWS Executive Director Kevin Cheshire says unforeseen site conditions and the supply chain caused delays in repairs. But he says he understands residents' frustrations.

"It's not us versus them," Cheshire says. "We're all in this together to try to get these construction projects done."

Elevator repairs are expected to be fully completed by the first quarter of 2024.