WOODLAWN — A months-long feud between a Woodlawn landlord and his tenants over allegations of unlivable conditions reached a boiling point last week, when a skeptical judge threatened to jail tenants he found to be lying.
Within hours, city inspectors were back at the building declaring one apartment housing a family of Venezuelan immigrants uninhabitable because of a burst water pipe tenants said had been dripping for several days.
The inspectors reported the flooded lower level — resulting in no heat and water dripping close to an electrical panel — caused a “dangerous and hazardous condition” in the 35-unit building at 6610 S. Kenwood Ave.
Both dramatic developments are just the latest in an ongoing court battle between landlords Ariel and Raphael Lowenstein and tenants who claim long-standing issues of pest infestation, plumbing and electrical issues, and foul drinking water have rendered multiple units unlivable.
The controversy also highlights the city and state’s ongoing problem finding adequate and livable housing for a new wave of immigrants who last year were camped outside police departments.
“We need help urgently,” said tenant leader Megan Franklin during the first of two hearings late last week before Judge Leonard Murray, the supervising judge in the housing division of the Cook County Circuit Court.
At the first hearing Thursday — before the burst water pipe created an emergency — Murray said he found the tenants’ claims of ongoing problems “a little dubious” because city inspectors told him they found no dangerous or hazardous conditions during their latest on-site visit Jan. 10.
“If I believe that they are lying, they are going to spend some time in county jail,” Murray told Samuel Barth of the Law Center for Better Housing, who is representing the tenants. “There is no reason not to believe what the inspectors are saying.”
However, the city decided to send another team of inspectors to the building immediately after the court hearing in an attempt to corroborate the tenants’ claims presented in court.
What they found was a family of seven — five adults and two children — living with no hot water and a flood in the lower-level family room of their two-story apartment. The family said they also had turned off the heat because the flood water had reached the furnace.
The inspectors said the unit had to be vacated until repairs were finalized, Lowenstein told Injustice Watch. Lowenstein said he gave the family $400 Thursday to go to a hotel as he made the emergency repairs.
The family, who asked not to be named in this report, said he initially offered them $200 and raised the offer to $400 when they protested the lower amount wasn’t enough.
Lowenstein said he was surprised to find them in the apartment when he arrived Friday at around 10 a.m., right behind Franklin, the tenant leader, and an Injustice Watch reporter.
“I gave you the $400 last night for the hotel,” Lowenstein said to the tenants. “Let me call the police real quick because this is not right what’s going on.”
The family said they took the money and packed their bags but opted to stay in the apartment for fear they may never be let back inside their home. They also said they didn’t know where to go and didn’t think $400 would be enough. Franklin brought them a space heater, which they used until Friday morning, when the electricity went out about a half-hour before Lowenstein arrived with a repairman.
After a heated conversation in which the family pointed out a litany of unresolved problems — rat and roach infestations, unrepaired holes in the wall, brownish water, and the burst water pipe — workers began the emergency repairs Friday morning.
But Murray continued to be skeptical at another hearing Friday, called specifically to address the emergency of the broken water pipe. He asked the Lowensteins during the online court hearing whether they suspected the tenants of “sabotage.”
“This is a nightmare,” said one tenant, a 23-year-old whose first name is Esdras. His family moved to the $1,827-per-month apartment in September as part of a state-sponsored emergency rental program for asylum-seekers.
He said until his family was offered the emergency rental, they were living at a police station and emergency shelter since their arrival in Chicago in July.
Chicago housing advocates interviewed by Injustice Watch say they know of other instances in which newly arrived asylum-seekers were housed in buildings the city has taken to housing court for building code violations.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, one of two agencies administering the program, did not respond to an Injustice Watch question about why the state would place a family in a building being sued by the city for poor conditions.
“All units are viewed by tenants prior to moving in and services are connected prior to move-in,” the agency spokeswoman said. “Any issues brought to our attention are investigated and properly addressed.”
One housing advocate suggested the family’s saga illustrates how the voices of tenants are often taken less seriously than those of their landlords.
“Most housing law is about protecting property and not people,” said Dixon Romeo, executive director of Not Me We, a housing advocacy organization that helped the tenants organize.
“The tenants will win at the end, and that’s what matters,” he said.
The ongoing battle between the Lowensteins and the tenants took a turn in favor of the tenants in September, when the city filed a lawsuit because of dozens of ongoing building code violations — including electrical and plumbing issues, holes and damaged ceilings, and mice and roaches.
They are part of a wave of residents who began organizing against their landlords as rents increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. For some tenants, the organizing effort began as building conditions worsened, an effort first reported by Block Club Chicago.
At the first hearing in early November, Murray reassured residents: “You’ve gained the attention of the city’s building department. … You have a court case; believe me that court case will be enough.”
Murray, who began his judicial career in 2007 and is running for a seat on the appellate court in the upcoming primary election, has received positive bar ratings for his willingness to assist litigants without an attorney. Injustice Watch has witnessed Murray offering his phone number to assist a displaced resident and lambasting the city for not having apartments ready for residents when they’ve asked the court to vacate a building.
But Murray’s demeanor toward the Kenwood Avenue building tenants has turned more skeptical after tempers flared between him and Franklin at a Nov. 16 hearing. At that hearing, the tenant leader insisted the judge was not treating the tenants’ complaints as seriously as he should.
Murray maintained the issues were not dangerous or hazardous, which would have forced him to order the building emptied. Franklin disagreed.
At the next hearing in December, Murray denied the tenants’ request to join as plaintiffs in the city’s suit, arguing it wasn’t necessary and saying issues should be reported to management or brought to the city’s attention.
Barth, the tenants’ attorney, argued the tenants had a “statutory right to intervene.”
“No, they don’t,” said Murray, adding he wasn’t going to debate the issue. “If you don’t agree, appeal it.”
On Jan. 4, Barth filed a motion asking Murray to reconsider his ruling. Murray told Barth at Thursday’s hearing he didn’t know what the tenant association was or “who these people are,” though at least two tenants, including Franklin, are named in the petition to intervene. He asked for the city’s opinion on whether to allow the tenants to join the case.
“We don’t think that’s appropriate,” said city attorney Megan Stiarwalt.
Barth argued any decision made on the building affects the tenants in the building. Asked by the judge whether he thought the city’s actions are not sufficient to address the issues the tenants are bringing up, Barth said, “Yes, Your Honor.”
Murray said the tenants were not experts and were not inspectors. “I have personally been on the property,” he said. “I”m not an expert, but in my opinion, there is no D&H present.”
That’s when Barth mentioned the issues in the apartment of the Venezuelan family, and the judge quipped: “There has been sabotage in this location.”
After a back-and-forth between the city, Barth, and Murray, a lawyer for the city said it would send the inspectors, who found the burst pipe. The city asked for an emergency hearing, which was set at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Friday’s emergency hearing was called specifically to address issues at the apartment of the Venezuelan residents.
Murray said all the complaints seemed to be over easy fixes, and he accused tenants of “terrorizing” and “intimidating” to get their way. He also asked the landlords if they suspected “sabotage.”
The landlords said the water pipe burst naturally because of the weather conditions. They also insisted Franklin was making it difficult to maintain the properties, especially when they show up and she is talking to residents.
They told the judge repairs would be completed by the end of the day.
“These folks ought to be ashamed of themselves,” said Murray, who ordered Franklin not to interfere in efforts to make repairs.
At the hearing, Barth, the attorney representing the tenants, told Murray his clients were not sabotaging repairs and offered to have the family testify about their ordeal. Murray said he had heard enough from the landlords.
The family told Injustice Watch on Friday they needed Franklin’s help, and without it, they probably would have spent the weekend in the freezing apartment with water in the basement.
“They take advantage of us because we don’t know the rules, and they get upset with her because she is helping us,” said Diana, 20.
Franklin said residents of about 10 units have left since the battle with Lowenstein began this summer. One was evicted. Others were threatened with eviction when they started withholding rent because of building conditions. Some left because of the building conditions or failed inspections, she said.
Injustice Watch senior reporter Maya Dukmasova contributed to this report.