Tenants at NYCHA's Borinquen Plaza Houses in Brooklyn say they're plagued by constant elevator outages and malfunctions.

Over the past two years, CBS News New York Brooklyn reporter Hannah Kliger has covered a handful of stories at the development, from raw sewage seeping onto the sidewalks to destructive flooding ruining people's apartments.

"I feel like I am stranded in my own home"

The bruises from the IVs have not yet faded from Clara Perez's arms as she recalls her week-long hospital stay following a seizure she had from being trapped in an elevator.

The mother of two uses a motorized wheelchair and says she feels stranded in her own home.

"You can't call out. So you have to ring the bell. So I felt everything happened at one time," she said.

It's not the first time she's gotten stuck at NYCHA's Borinquen Plaza Houses. NYCHA transferred her there more than a year ago because of constant elevator issues at a different development, but she says the issues at her new complex are even worse.

"I'm not able to walk up the stairs and down the stairs because I have cerebral palsy, and it's stressful for me because I have a normal life like everybody else," she said.

Perez, who lives on the top floor, has to plan her days around the one elevator in her building. This week, neighbors learned of another planned outage posted for Friday. But her biggest fear is an emergency.

"God forbid there was a fire, you know. Other people is able to run. I'm not able to run like everybody else," she said.

Her building at 50 Manhattan Ave. houses predominantly seniors and people with disabilities. However, residents say every single building in this development is dealing with the same issues.

"I don't know what type of inspection it is that they're passing"

Shanequa Lewis, vice president of the Tenant Association, took Kliger on a tour of two buildings where shaky elevators, failing doors and malfunctions are a daily occurrence.   

"It happens daily. Sometimes they can come and restart the elevator in the morning, and less than an hour [later], it'll stop functioning," Lewis said.

She recalls another senior who got stuck and needed medical help.

"She had to get to the hospital. She was unable to do so because the elevator was stuck," she said.

An hour after CBS News New York toured the complex, Lewis' teenage daughter was briefly stranded while coming home from school.

A spokesperson from NYCHA says there were 20 confirmed outages since the start of this year.

In a statement, NYCHA writes: "NYCHA elevator technicians have promptly addressed all recent outages at Borinquen Plaza and will perform an inspection of all elevators this week to ensure proper operation. Staff will continue to communicate with resident leadership concerning elevator issues and what is being done to address them."

"I don't know what type of inspection it is that they're passing, but I would love to know, how did they pass it? When they did the inspection test, the same day, the elevators weren't working," Lewis said.

Tenants are hoping for massive repairs despite NYCHA's nearly $80 billion capital need in order to get buildings citywide into a good state of repair.

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