Neighbors on Chicago’s West Side said they are frustrated with the conditions inside their Chicago Housing Authority complex, describing the conditions as “deplorable.”
They’ve been fighting housing officials over the issues they’ve been dealing with, from bad plumbing to visible mold, and urging CHA to take action and take them seriously for years.
“I like my place, but it’s just not livable for me,” Javan Clayton said.
Residents of Harrison Courts Apartments are looking for their units to get fixed from what they say are ongoing problems.
“I want to be moved up out here until CHA fix they buildings and I can move back in it,” Clayton said.
Clayton moved into the CHA units on the West Side just over a year ago.
“When I moved in, they painted it up. But as the months was going down, everything was falling apart, and the mold around the bathroom, the tub … windows,” she said
she claims he mold had quickly revealed itself.
“When you look at the buildings and the brick, it looks real nice on the outside.”
Yet Rev. Robin Hood said the conditions on the inside lack basic repairs. He and residents said it goes beyond mold to rats, roaches, and leaking roofs in the majority of 122 units in the seven-story buildings.
“It’s not right, they have to fix this, you can’t allow people to live like this,” Hood said.
Back in May, CHA announced it had plans to place these units up for sale. Harrison Court falls under a special contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and it places restrictions on how cha can use federal housing dollars for repairs and redevelopment. Essentially, CHA said it had limited funds available to fix up the place, but residents are asking what happens until the property is sold.
“CHA, if they sold this property, it will be two to three years. Nobody is crazy who’s going to buy a building like this in these conditions,” Hood said.
“That leaves me stuck in this raggedy apartment still,” Clayton said.
Rev. Hood said residents are falling ill constantly from the deplorable conditions. This week, he’s calling on CHA leaders and Mayor Brandon Johnson to finally step up.
“If we have to get them lawyers, we gonna get them lawyers. If we have to sue and protest for weeks, I don’t mind doing it because this is unacceptable,” Hood said.
CHA said it will listen to the concerns of its residents.
Full statement from the Chicago Housing Authority
“We want to assure residents that we are listening to their concerns. This summer we released the first resident survey in recent memory so that we can better understand what’s working and what’s not working for our residents. We will be reviewing the results of this survey soon, as well as discussing with resident leadership. We have also increased staffing in our Property and Asset Management Team to provide better oversight of our third-party property managers.”
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