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Residents of a building in South Shore, labeled “unlivable” by a judge, must vacate by Friday.
As the holiday season approaches and temperatures plummet, some South Shore residents are urgently searching for new accommodations.
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Those residing in the apartment complex at the intersection of 75th and South Shore have been ordered to leave by the end of the week.
This building gained notoriety following the “Operation Midway Blitz” raid.
Earlier this week, a Cook County judge rejected the tenants’ plea for an extension, citing the building’s numerous safety violations and describing it as “a fire trap.”
But Tenants said some of the conditions were left after federal agents raided the building in September.
RELATED: Tenants of South Shore building plagued by CBP raid, financial issues demand repairs and stipends
The Trump Administration released a highly produced video of the incident.
Tenants said they received an eviction notice the day before Thanksgiving. Some tenants even ended up forming a tenants’ union.
Though all parties seem to agree that the building is unlivable, they said finding a new home mid-winter has been difficult.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” tenant Larry Asher said. “I’ll be homeless Friday where it stands now. I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“People have been trying to get out of this building,” Infiniti Gant of Southside Together said. “It’s not that people don’t want to leave. It’s not that people are dragging their feet, it’s that it’s hard.”
A judge also denied a motion of for each tenant to receive $7,500 to help relocate – adding tenants are being offered a fair amount to relocate based on their rent.
Some people fear they could very well end up without a place to live as they are forced to move out with little assistance.
Union advocates started a fund to help people relocate with all of them expected to be out of the building at some point Friday.