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Residents of a beleaguered building on Chicago’s South Side are urgently seeking assistance as living conditions continue to deteriorate.
The building, located at the intersection of 75th and South Shore, has struggled financially for some time. It gained national attention earlier this year following a pre-dawn operation conducted by Border Patrol agents.
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According to reports from ABC7, 36 individuals still reside in the building. Many of these residents report enduring harsh conditions, including a lack of heat and electricity, persistent standing water, and structural damage to walls and ceilings. Additionally, they face the inconvenience of non-functioning elevators.
“We desperately need help in this building, and it’s not just my plight—many of us are affected,” shared tenant Darren Hightower. “This situation is unrelated to the ICE incident; the building has been falling apart over the past year.”
On Monday, tenants gathered outside, voicing their demands for necessary repairs and requesting financial assistance to relocate to safer accommodations.
This comes after federal agents raided the building in September as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration operation “Midway Blitz,” sharing a highly produced video of the raid. Separately, residents shared with ABC7 that they were separated and that children were zip-tied in the raid.
“We stay on the fifth floor. We heard the helicopters. They came down. We heard the helicopters,” said tenant Margaret Nicholson.
The group of tenants have now formed a tenant union.
“It really got worse after ICE did their raid,” said tenant Mashawnda Price. “They have not fixed the lights in the hallway. It is dark, very dark. It’s scary. It’s dangerous.”
They told ABC7 that they have reached out to the mayor and governor’s offices for help.
“It started with ICE, and now, it needs to center on the tenants who are here, these tenants who are having to experience these horrible conditions,” said Infiniti Gant with Southside Together.
ABC7 reached out to the receivership now in control of the building. They say they have only taken over in the past week or so.
In the meantime, it is cold in this lakefront community and getting colder.