The remaining residents of the apartment building raided by federal agents in early fall have formed a tenants union and are calling for repairs and relocation help.
About 36 residents still reside at 7500 South Shore Drive, the target of an immigration raid on Sept. 30 that made international headlines. Earlier this month, a Cook County judge appointed a receiver, Friedman Communities, to relocate tenants, clean up the building and make repairs.
Since then, residents say they have not heard from Friedman Communities about relocation, and that building conditions have deteriorated.
Friedman Communities did not immediately return a request for comment.
“We have people in this building that are disabled, don’t have family to [relocate] to, that are out of power, that are out of heat,” said Darren Hightower, who has lived in the building for two years. “It’s still a lot of us left in this building. Please pay attention.”
Another resident, Mashawnda Price, said her 3-year-old daughter is staying with her grandmother because of the dangerous conditions in the building, including dark hallways and stairwells and the lack of gas and heat.
“I don’t want to take that chance of losing my baby to something that I had no control over,” Price said. She added that she has to help older people with wheelchairs and walkers because the elevators don’t work.
A walk-through of the building by a WBEZ reporter Monday showed conditions haven’t changed much since a previous walk-through in early October. The building’s front doors still don’t lock; there are dimly lit hallways and pools of urine and sewage in common areas; a broken smoke detector hangs from a hallway ceiling; and a dead cat is wrapped in a blanket in one of the abandoned units.
Price and Hightower are part of a tenants union seeking major repairs to restore heat, electricity and elevators; cleanup of the sewage, pests and mold; hiring of 24-hour security for the building; and relocation assistance of $7,500 per household no later than 30 days before scheduled move-out.
The tenants union is also calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson to work with Friedman Communities to relocate residents to buildings in the South Shore neighborhood, expediting inspections and moving for any Section 8 voucher holders in the building.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Infiniti Gant, an organizer with Southside Together, said the immigration raid laid bare the conditions residents had been enduring since the building was purchased by an out-of-town investor. And while being thrust into the spotlight led to some cleanup and the hiring of security, it didn’t last.
“Security came because the building was getting national attention,” Gant said. “And as soon as they felt the moment died, the security left.
“We are hoping that the narrative shifts,” she added. “It started with [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement], and now it needs to center on the tenants who are here … who are having to experience these horrible conditions because they are forced to live in property that is not maintained.”
Gant said that although a judge has ordered Friedman Communities to assist in moving out residents before it gets too cold, residents have not been given a move-out date.
“People are scared,” Gant said. “They don’t know what the next move is.”