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Elderly residents in Cyprus’ refugee apartment blocks, many with serious health issues, are being hoisted up and down their buildings by Fire Department forklifts because the complexes have no elevators. The images, revealed this week, sparked outrage and renewed questions about how a years-long promise to install lifts simply ground to a halt.
Some residents say they’ve resorted to leaving their groceries on the ground floor, waiting until their children return from school to haul them upstairs. “This is not just bureaucracy. This is human dignity being trampled,” said DISY MP Rita Theodorou Superman, who raised the issue on RIK.
Superman said the elevator debate has become an annual ritual in Parliament, but nothing moves. “It’s not delayed,” she said. “It has stopped.”
How it got this bad
The original plan to install elevators in 368 refugee apartment buildings hit a wall because of a legal requirement: every single resident had to agree before construction could begin. That unanimous consent, especially from ground-floor tenants who feared losing a bit of private space, proved impossible.
Urban Planning asked the Legal Service for guidance, and the legal opinion confirmed it: all residents must consent because installing a lift affects private property. “It was a correct opinion,” Superman said, “but instead of finding solutions, we stopped everything.”
Meanwhile, some elderly residents with urgent medical needs have literally been moved by forklift. “It’s tragic,” she said. “We should not still be debating elevators while people are being carried like cargo.”
The ‘I Build’ plan isn’t helping
The government’s “I Build” redevelopment plan was meant to modernize the aging buildings and keep residents safe. Instead, Superman said, it has stalled and left people in limbo. Many elderly refugees have now been relocated twice, forced to rent temporary accommodation they can barely afford. Others can’t secure bank loans needed for their required contribution to the project.
“These people live with uncertainty and insecurity,” she said. “They’re getting older, and they don’t have time for endless paperwork.”
What happens now
Frustrated by the lack of action, Parliament’s refugee committee has decided to take over the issue itself, examining whether legislative changes or alternative solutions are needed. If installing elevators under the current framework is impossible, Superman said, the government should say so clearly and propose realistic fixes.
Ideas on the table include relocating vulnerable residents to ground-floor units or other accessible housing options.
“We owe these people respect above all else,” she said. “We cannot keep pretending the problem doesn’t exist.”
*Source: 24News
