People who live in those buildings do it every day.
Yes, we did. I lived in the James Monroe Houses, 805 Taylor Ave, Bronx NY during the heroin heyday of the mid 60's- early 70's. 8th floor of a 13 story building.
The elevators were constantly out of service, either one of the other(2 elevators, one
odd, one
even floors), and sometimes it was easier to just walk the stairwells.
Most of the time the light bulbs were either broken or removed. The hallways smelled of urine, and were littered with glassine envelopes and "works".
It was dangerous, but we were young, and it was just part of life in the projects. The only weapons we had were street smarts and young legs.
The vast majority of the cops were cool. We had a cop named Maury Wills(nickname), called that because he looked like him and was fast as his namesake. He was a good guy, always looking out for the young folks. Never found out his real name.

Then there was Butler, his real name, quiet guy who just went about his job, all business. We feared him because he didn't talk much.

We always knew when the cops were in the stairwells, we could hear their equipment rattling on their belts.
And now we come to Mr X

, a real dirt bag who was as shady as they come. Won't get into the details.
Years after moving out of the projects, I went back one day to see who was still there. Most people had left but there were still many families left, some people still to this day

. A guy who I grew up with took over his parents apt.
Anyways, I heard from some folks that Mr X was killed in another city housing project on the lower east side, a couple years after we left Monroe Houses. Can't say I was surprised by that, and neither was anyone else I spoke to.
There was much speculation about
who killed him, street thugs or the crooks he ran with. They say his killer was never caught.