Newsletter | February 2020
SKTU Victory
In March 2018, Eva Jaramillo of 3204 W Sunnyside Ave called ATU’s hotline seeking advice about her landlord’s failure to provide heat during the particularly long winter. Less than a month later, her landlord--George Triff of Triff Enterprises--served Eva with a 30-day, no-cause eviction notice, setting off an eight month struggle.
We are thrilled to announce that the end of this struggle concluded last month with a resounding victory for Eva, providing her family with the time they need to find alternative housing--and providing renters across Chicago a glimpse of what can be achieved by organizing to fight for their rights.
On December 12, after a short press conference outside the Daley Center, Eva and Abdon appeared in housing court for a hearing for which they had spent weeks preparing. Before the hearing started, there was a brief settlement conference, resulting in a deal: They will be allowed to stay in their unit at least until July 2020, and all their back rent (a total of $4,900, which Triff could not collect during eviction proceedings) was waived.
The extra time will allow Eva and Abdon to search for a new apartment without the pressure of eviction and will allow their children to finish out the school year. The money saved on back rent will give them the extra cash needed to cover moving expenses. Although any result which requires tenants to eventually move against their will is not perfect, this settlement is a much bigger victory than most tenants can expect given the massive burden of proof placed on tenants during no-cause eviction cases.
Especially notable is that only one week before the hearing, Triff insisted that Eva’s family could stay no later than a couple months and refused to waive back rent. But several months of protesting outside Triff’s Gold Coast condo, flooding his phones with calls from supporters, and speaking out to the media about the campaign sent a clear message to Triff--Eva’s family would not be settling for a pittance. The fact that Triff’s offer grew so much in the span of only a week is a testament to the ability of organizing, direct action, and a principled and aggressive legal strategy to get results beyond the scope of traditional legal aid.
Although the threat of imminent eviction has been lifted for now, Eva’s family will still need support in ensuring that Triff maintains their unit until they can move, and with finding and moving to a new home. If you would like to join ATU in supporting Eva’s family along with tenants like them in Albany Park and beyond, you can contact us at housing.atu@gmail.com. When we fight, we win!
Affordable Housing Community Development Meeting
On December 16, a collection of neighborhood groups held a community meeting at Horner Park Fieldhouse about a proposed affordable housing development for the lot on the corner of Montrose and California, which is currently home to Ruby Dry Cleaners. The developer proposing the project, MVAH Partners, presented a plan for a 47-unit building composed of 7 studio units reserved for households of one making less than $37,440 a year, 11 CHA-eligible one-bedroom units reserved for households of two making less than $21,390 a year, 23 one-bedroom units reserved for households of two making less than $42,780 a year, and 6 two-bedroom units at market rate rent, estimated at about $1,267/month.
In a city suffering an affordable housing crisis, and a neighborhood under the pressure of gentrification, any affordable development is welcome and worth fighting for. However, this meeting served as a crystal clear example of both the inadequacy of capitalist market economics to provide basic human necessities like housing, as well as the nature of the opposition we face in building a better world.
To be blunt, there are real concerns to be had about this proposed development. For instance, all of the “affordable” units are either studios or one-bedrooms. Having seen family after family displaced from our community, we know how essential it is to have affordable housing for families of all sizes. Additionally, prospective residents are required to pass credit checks, background checks, and must have landlord references, all barriers which serve to prevent the people most in need of affordable housing from accessing it here. These issues are the direct result of the nature of commodified housing. An affordable housing developer is still a developer--however legitimate their desire to provide a social good, the fact remains that their ultimate purpose is to generate a profit. A one-bedroom unit has a higher profit margin than a 2- or 3-bedroom. Credit checks and reference requirements insure the landlord against “risky” tenants. Simply put, the goals of private and/or for-profit development are incompatible with our goal of a world where everyone has safe and secure housing.
The meeting was organized by the North River Commission, Albany Park Neighbors, The Residents of Irving Park (TRIP), Horner Park Neighbors, the People of East Albany Park block club (PEAP), and the Albany Park Chamber of Commerce. These organizations are, on the whole, made up of homeowners and people whiter and wealthier than the neighborhood and the city around them. And their members were, for the most part, aggressively opposed to the proposal for the reasons you may suspect--worries about decreasing property values, fear-mongering about the “crime” and “drugs” that they take for granted to be connected to low-income people. This puts those of us fighting for housing justice in a difficult position. We can acknowledge that these private low-income housing developments are just scraps of what we need, but at the same time we have to expend time and energy turning out to fight against the people who think we are entitled to less than scraps. Because of this, we must remember to always be clear about what our ultimate demand is--housing as a human right--and must continue to creatively struggle so that our fate is not left to the whims of developers and landowners. Stay tuned for updates on this development and ways to get involved!
See the Tenants’ Rights in the Winter guide at our Resources page
Winterization Workshop Recap
On January 18, we had our winterization asamblea. We learned about our rights as tenants during the winter, how to request repairs from landlords, and how to report heating problems to the city.
Some major takeaways:
Heat is an essential service, which means landlords have to make sure it’s provided.
Landlords cannot disconnect utilities between December 1 to March 31 if doing so will leave tenants without heat on days when the temperature dips below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Landlords have to make sure that home temperatures are at least 68 degrees between 8:30AM and 10:30PM and 66 degrees between 10:30PM and 8:30AM from September 15 to June 1.
We gave out free thermometers and insulation supplies so our members can keep their homes safe and cozy this winter.
