Organization helps tenants fight back

MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Andrea Rogers spent the beginning of this cold Chicago winter without any heat in her three-bedroom apartment.

Her building, at 5839 W. Washington Blvd., has changed management multiple times, and for the last two and a half years management has been "pretty bad" according to Rogers.

Work orders she's submitted are still pending two years later and up until Dec. 7 nine apartments in the 12-unit building, including hers, didn't have heat.

The problem may be symptomatic of growing landlord abuses. According to Shannon Weiss at the Center for Renters' Rights in Chicago, landlord misconduct, including unfair evictions, "has gotten so much worse in the last eight years."

According to Malik Wornum with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization, which provides free advice to tenants regarding their rights, a tenant in the building called him about the heating problem. Wornum was able to arrange a meeting and brief the tenants on their rights.

Once organized, the group found out that the three units that were getting heat were re-routing the gas from other people's cooking gas. The heat was finally turned on after the tenants organized with the help of the Lawyer's Committee for Better Housing, which partners with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization.

Wornum said that often tenants won't stand up for their rights because they fear eviction or other retaliation from their landlords, even though such acts are illegal. Organizing groups of tenants within a building helps as well.

"Last year we identified 71 buildings [with landlord violations] and we organized 45 of them," Warner said. "Organizing is always a successful tool because there's strength in numbers."

Legal representation also helps management to take complains more seriously. "If you call them you will get an answering service or their operator which can only take a message, and they won't return your calls," said Rogers.

The firm identified as managing the buildingcould not immediately be reached for comment. In fact, the management connection was disconnected, as was the line for the general information contact on the company's website.

Rogers said even though the heat is on she still has several pressing plumbing issues including "a big bubble in the ceiling [that looks] its about to fall in and it's molding." Although she said her landlord said he would fix it in September, but no progress has been made.

Are landlords just blatantly disregarding their responsibilities? "Tt's even more complicated now than it used to be because of the economy. They're not going to care [as much] right now; there's enough on their plates, that's the big problem" Weiss said.

Why doesn't Rogers move in the face of such unfair treatment? "I can't just up and leave and move," she said. Rogers's rent is subsidized under Section 8 by the Chicago Trust Fund. Her contact at the trust fund advises her to move, but Rogers doesn't want to. "I like my apartment, the area and everything," she said.

Unfortunately for Rogers, the teamwork that helped the tenants get the building's heat turned on hasn't helped get the plumbing fixed. "It's like they [management] don't care anymore," she said.