Tenants are calling elevator problems at the Webster Houses a vicious cycle and are demanding change.

People living on the 21 floors of 1260 Webster Ave. have gotten used to taking one step inside to find one or both of the elevators out of service.

"This is what I go through every day," says Marilyn Santos, who lives on the seventh floor.

Santos opts for the stairs now no matter what, even though she's recovering from knee surgery.

"I'm scared! The tenants are scared. I mean it dropped, and I got stuck twice," says Santos.

Santos tells News 12 she was stuck once last weekend, then again on Tuesday with her daughter.

Santos is not the only one to get stuck in the building’s elevators. The FDNY says they've responded to this building 17 times since September.

Residents say NYCHA crews do respond but they haven’t fixed the problem for good.

"All they do is come fix it for five minutes, but after five minutes it's right back to the same," says Santos.

A NYCHA spokesperson tells News 12 repair response time has been reduced on average from 13 hours to 8 hours, but people like Connie Glawson, who lives on the 14th floor, needs a more permanent solution because her husband is in a wheelchair.

"He's a prisoner of the apartment because I’m scared if he comes down and the elevator goes out, how's he going to get up," says Glawson.

There is currently a $5.8 million improvement project of the roofs at the Webster Houses. However, NYCHA tells News 12 it has been working with the federal monitor's team to develop and implement an elevator action plan.