Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Elvia Malagón

Black utility workers sue Chicago-based Peoples Gas over alleged racial discrimination

2023-11-29T17:01:48.127-06:00

Letitia Jackson, a former Peoples Gas employee, is among nearly a dozen former and current Peoples Gas employees filing a federal lawsuit against the company over alleged safety and racial discrimination.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Letitia Jackson felt passionate about her career after getting hired by one of the state’s largest utility companies, where few other Black professionals worked.

“For me to be the face of a Black woman, that could say I know how to do construction, I know how to do piping,” Jackson said. “I was really proud of that and to say that I work at Peoples Gas — that was something I was proud of.”

But her aspirations of climbing the ranks of Peoples Gas fizzled as she started experiencing a culture she and other workers say discriminates against Black employees. She’s among 11 former and current Peoples Gas employees who filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Peoples Gas, saying that Black workers and customers were sexualized by non-Black workers and faced racial slurs.

The lawsuit says Black workers are relegated to an area that serves the South Side, and they frequently get assigned to jobs in neighborhoods without security where some have faced attacks. The workers also allege that Peoples Gas did not do enough after concerns were raised about workplace racism and hazards.

Peoples Gas said the accusations aren’t true.

“We adamantly deny the allegations made by these individuals, including the extreme and false claims of racial bias, and will vigorously defend the suit. We provide a workplace with equal opportunities for all employees, including a long-standing unionized field workforce,” the utility stated.

Dozens decry a proposed rate hike on natural gas during a protest in front of the headquarters for Peoples Gas at the Aon Center in downtown Chicago in March.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

Earlier this month, the Illinois Commerce Commission voted to cut the utility’s pipe-replacement budget for next year and ordered an investigation into spending.

During Jackson’s time with the company, she endured comments from co-workers about her clothes and speculation about what she would do for money, according to the lawsuit. It was part of a pattern other workers reported experiencing. One worker said co-workers speculated about his sex life because he is a Black man, while others heard fellow employees make sexual comments about Black customers.

Garland Eleby, another plaintiff, remembers on his first day of work hearing a white co-worker using a racial slur.

“Nobody flinched,” said Eleby, who still works for Peoples Gas. “Nobody looked up or asked, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with you?’ Nothing. It rolled off the tongue like he said it every day.”

Peoples Gas rate hike would hurt Chicagoans struggling to pay utility bills, advocates say

The lawsuit also says the company places more of its Black workforce in the area that serves the South Side while also assigning them to jobs in neighborhoods with higher rates of crime. The former and current workers who are part of the lawsuit detail how they’ve experienced assaults, robberies and attempted robberies.

A little more than a year into his job, Eleby said he and other co-workers were robbed at gunpoint after being assigned to work in an area overnight where a car crash had disrupted service. He said they were forced to stay in the same area for six to seven hours afterward.

“I was really upset,” Eleby said. “I was disgusted. It was like we got sent into a battle with no proper gear or anything. It was just like no regard for how we felt.”

Jackson recalled she witnessed a shooting while working, and she was so shaken up that she drove in reverse.

“When I got back to the shop, my supervisor only offered me a hot dog,” she said. “I am crying, bawling in tears, wanting to go home, and I was told, well, you’ll have to use your own [paid time off] to go home.”

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

In a written statement, Peoples Gas said it utilizes private security and works with the Chicago police to support the safety of employees when deemed appropriate.

The lawsuit says there were discriminatory practices for Black employees that affected overtime, promotions and discipline.

Jason Towns, who’s one of those suing, said he thinks racism played a role in his termination in 2022. He was part of a crew that damaged an underground service line, but Towns said that his white co-worker was not disciplined.

It’s one of the reasons why Towns said he felt compelled to speak out after seeking other avenues of change with no results.

“I just want to come to work and do my job,” said Towns, who has returned to Peoples Gas. “Do the best job that I could possibly do and just go home. I hate to have to be the person here to bring light to this particular situation, but it’s inevitable.”

Woman’s family called police for help, then her lease was terminated

2023-11-28T05:30:00-06:00

Diamond Jones, 30, who is challenging Richton Park’s crime-free housing ordinance, stands in her attorney’s office earlier this month.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

When Diamond Jones moved into a ranch-style home in Richton Park, it felt like her first place on her own, even though she was renting the property.

Jones, 30, was excited to provide a bigger space for her daughter while also having enough room for her younger brother, who stayed with her. Later, she gave birth to a second daughter.

But after calling the property home for four years, she was forced to move abruptly after being issued a 10-day notice of lease termination.

That notice cited the village’s crime-free ordinance, but Jones said she was given no clear answers about how she violated the ordinance, which prohibits a tenant from engaging in, facilitating or conspiring in criminal activity.

Jones said she moved to avoid having an eviction order on her record.

This month, more than a year after the ordeal, Jones filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging the constitutionality of that ordinance. Jones, represented by the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Winston & Strawn LLP, alleges Richton Park violated her constitutional right to due process and violated her First Amendment rights.

“They let me down,” Jones said about the suburban community.

The former home of Diamond Jones in Richton Park, pictured Monday. Jones left the house after being issued a 10-day notice of lease termination citing the community’s crime-free ordinance.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

A series of events tied to Jones’ lease termination notice started June 24, 2022, when a shooting occurred on her block. Jones was not home, but her mother, who was watching her daughters, went out to help the shooting victim, according to the lawsuit.

The next day, Jones and her family received threats via social media accusing the family of calling police. The family called 911 and reported the threats, according to the lawsuit.

Days later, on June 27, someone opened fire and shot into Jones’ home while her two daughters and mother were home, according to the lawsuit. Jones, who wasn’t home, said no one was injured.

Emails obtained by Jones’ lawyers indicate that on June 29, 2022, Richton Park police officials were evaluating if Jones had violated the crime-free ordinance. An hour after officials exchanged emails, Richton Park police emailed Jones’ landlord to notify them that the property was in violation of the ordinance, according to the lawsuit.

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The Village of Richton Park declined to comment. Jones’ landlord is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

Crime-free ordinances are in place in communities across Illinois, including in Chicago, where there is a “chronic illegal activity premises” ordinance.

In 2017, the HOPE Fair Housing Center filed a federal lawsuit challenging Peoria’s chronic nuisance ordinance, which they eventually settled to include due process protections for tenants.

Diamond Jones, who is challenging Richton Park’s crime-free housing ordinance, gets emotional as she speaks in her attorney’s office Friday.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Michael Chavarria, executive director of the housing center, said they would like to see these types of ordinances eliminated. Housing, he said, shouldn’t be used to address crime. The ordinances also disrupt affordable housing, because some municipalities issue fees to landlords if they don’t evict a tenant, he said.

“We don’t force homeowners to leave their community or to become unhoused because they made too much noise or because one of their teenagers got into a fight,” Chavarria said. “We don’t treat so many other people this way. We’re really seeing this targeted at renters, and typically renters who are not white.”

Richton Park, about 18 miles south of Chicago, is home to 12,775 residents, according to census data. About 86% of residents identify as Black, while 6% identify as white.

$12M settlement for teen shot by Richton Park officer

Crime-free housing ordinances date back to the early 1990s, and some of the first ones were developed in Arizona as a way to reduce crimes in rental properties, according to a guide published by the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Micaela Alvarez, one of the attorneys representing Jones, estimates 179 municipalities across the state have variations of crime-free ordinances.

“We view them as part of a legacy of local laws that really reinforce regional patterns of segregation,” Alvarez said. “They are often enacted in response to perceived or actual changes in demographics in majority-white communities. And regardless of where they are enacted, because they rely on contact with law enforcement as the main trigger of a violation, these ordinances disproportionately impact people of color.”

Jones previously lived in the south suburbs, and she was familiar with Richton Park. Moving there meant she would be closer to relatives who could help her with child care.

The village requires every lease for a rental property to include an addendum outlining how a landlord can terminate the agreement if the tenant, a guest or anyone else living there violates any provision of it, according to the ordinance.

She didn’t think twice about signing the addendum.

“Everything checked out — I’m moving in,” she said. “If you’ve got all great intentions, that’s the last thing that you’ll think about.”

The ordinance outlines how a tenant could be in violation due to an “unreasonably high number of calls” for police services for noise complaints, dog complaints, stray animal, juvenile or other types of complaints. Calls related to domestic violence or sexual violence aren’t supposed to count.

A sign outside Richton Park’s administration and police building. The village’s’s crime-free ordinance is being challenged by Diamond Jones.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

In an email, police said the person wounded in the June 24, 2022, shooting near Jones’ home was visiting Jones’ home. The email goes on to detail how an estimated seven gunshots were fired at Jones’ home during the June 27, 2022, shooting.

“These incidents have placed the neighborhood in danger and created a high level of fear,” the official wrote in the email.

The family doesn’t believe they were suspects in the shootings, Jones said. They thought they were witnesses who were cooperating with the investigations.

On July 5, 2022, she received a notice of termination indicating she had 10 days to leave the property because she violated the crime-free lease addendum.

“That was heartbreaking,” she said. “I didn’t have anywhere to go within 10 days. At that point, I had two children. It was devastating to know that I still didn’t know why I was being evicted, embarrassed that I have to tell people that I’m being evicted for this particular reason.”

Jones said she went to the village’s offices, but still wasn’t given a clear answer. A village worker gave her a list of 11 emergency calls made from in or around her home since 2019; the calls vary from a wellness check to a misdial to a noise complaint. One of the calls stemmed from when the family reported the online threats, and another call was from the day the shots were fired into the home.

As she scrambled to find a place move to, Jones said she learned she was pregnant with her third child. Keeping busy with moving her children into a smaller apartment in another county meant she couldn’t focus on her pregnancy, she said.

The girls, now ages 6 and 4, still are scared by loud noises and don’t like to be left alone.

Jones said she never understood why people who witness crimes were reluctant to come forward, but she now questions if this would have all been avoided if her family would have kept quiet.

“We’re trying to seek justice,” Jones said about the lawsuit. “I don’t want that to ever happen to anyone. I don’t want anybody to obviously not want to help going forward, afraid of the retaliation.”

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Peoples Gas’ proposed $142/year average rate hike would hurt struggling Chicagoans, advocates say

2023-11-13T05:30:00-06:00

Hiola G. Alston, 79, who lives in Auburn Gresham, says, “I’m worried a little bit if I’m gonna be able to afford to have heat. I’ve got to have gas heat to keep my pipes from bursting. What do I do? Do I take in a roomer? Do I take in somebody to help me with this so I’ll be able to afford to stay in my house?”

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

Consumer advocates in Chicago say a proposed Peoples Gas rate hike would hit low-income households especially hard and are pushing for a smaller increase.

The Illinois Commerce Commission is expected to vote on the proposed increase at its next public meeting 11:30 a.m. Thursday at 160 N. La Salle St. Meetings are livestreamed on the commission’s icc.illinois.gov website.

Peoples Gas petitioned the commission in January for a record increase of $402 million. If approved, that would translate to customers seeing an average monthly increase of $11.83 — or $141.96 a year — in their bills. Glennon Dolan, an administrative law judge for the commission, recommended that the hike total $350 million instead, which would mean customers would pay $10 more a month.

The Citizens Utility Board and other consumer advocacy groups say the rate hike could place Chicago residents in Black and Brown communities already struggling to pay their gas bills into further debt. They point to reports that Peoples Gas submits every month to the commission with the number of disconnection notices sent out.

In September, the utility sent disconnection notices to 57,120 customers — about 7% of Peoples Gas customers. That’s up from a year earlier, when 37,988 customers got disconnection notices — about 4.8% of the utility’s customers.

A Chicago Sun-Times investigation earlier this year detailed how utility companies including Peoples Gas use secret “risk rankings” to decide which customers who fall behind on their bills will have their service cut off soonest.

Secret ‘risk rankings’ unfairly target struggling customers for faster gas, electricity cutoffs, consumer groups say

The Peoples Gas headquarters is at the Aon Center in downtown Chicago.

Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times file

Illinois PIRG, a public interest advocacy group, did an analysis of the reports submitted by the utility and found about 26% of Peoples Gas customers in September were dinged with added fees for late payment.

In the 60619 ZIP code — which includes Chatham — there were 3,747 disconnection notices sent out in September, nearly 16% of customers in that area, according to the analysis. About 44% of customers in that ZIP code were hit with a late fee.

In the 60628 ZIP code — which includes Roseland — 3,173 disconnection notices were sent out, and about 38% of customers were assessed a late fee.

The 60621 ZIP code, which includes Englewood, had 46% of accounts that were more than 30 days past due, according to the analysis, and about half of all customers in that ZIP code were hit with late fees. About 20% of customers in that area were sent disconnection notices, according to the analysis.

More than 53% of customers in the 60649 ZIP code — which includes South Shore — were hit with a late fee, according to the analysis, and that area saw 2,439 disconnection notices in September.

“It’s an indicator of just the suffering and the stress and the potentially dangerous situations that vast swaths of our city — our neighbors — face,” said Sarah Moskowitz, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board. “Even if the utility doesn’t turn off the heat immediately, the family facing the disconnection is at great risk to fall further in debt. That debt can become much harder and harder to get out of.”

Advocacy groups have pushed for a lower rate hike, though any increase will likely result in consumers paying more for the utility.

“Even if advocates like me and the attorney general — those of us working to lower the rate hike — even if we are wildly successful, there’s still going to be a significant rate hike,” said Abe Scarr, director of Illinois PIRG. “People are going to be paying more.”

Gas bills hit Chicagoans hard

Hiola G. Alston, who lives in Auburn Gresham, worries how she’ll keep up with a higher gas bill. Retired and on a fixed income, Alston said she hasn’t fallen behind but has heard from neighbors who have had difficulty paying the utility.

In September, Peoples Gas sent 3,404 disconnection notices to customers in the 60620 ZIP code, which includes Alston’s neighborhood.

“I’m worried a little bit if I’m gonna be able to afford to have heat,” she said. “I’ve got to have gas heat to keep my pipes from bursting. What do I do? Do I take in a roomer? Do I take in somebody to help me with this so I’ll be able to afford to stay in my house?”

Ahead of the commission’s vote, Alston joined other AARP Illinois members who wheeled four boxes containing about 15,000 petitions to the commission’s downtown offices and urged the agency to “stop the outrageous rate hike.”

“They should really look at the whole picture as to what it is and why is Peoples Gas asking for another hike,” Alston said. “They’re not giving up anything. We’re the ones that’s paying to keep them in business.”

Hiola G. Alston was among a group of AARP Illinois members and volunteers who delivered four boxes of petitions ahead of the Illinois Commerce Commission’s expected vote on a proposed Peoples Gas rate hike.

Elvia Malagón / Sun-Times

“They cannot afford their utility bills today — prior to the rate increase,” said Philippe Largent, state director for AARP Illinois. “On the heels of the first snowfall and freezing temperatures of the year, we’re worried for our friends and neighbors who have shared in these petitions that they have to make the impossible choice between heating their home or paying for groceries and prescriptions.”

During a Chicago City Council committee hearing, members grilled Peoples Gas president Torrence Hinton about the company’s profits and the management of the utility’s pipe-replacement program.

Hinton said customers struggling to pay their monthly bill are urged find out whether they are eligible for assistance through programs operated by the utility, state and federal government.

“We are certainly sensitive to the fact that a lot of Chicagoans are struggling to pay their bills,” Hinton said. “Many are struggling to pay all of their bills, let alone their utility bills, which is why we have not been before the Illinois Commerce Commission for a rate filing in almost nine years.”

READ SUN-TIMES APRIL 2 WATCHDOGS REPORT ON UTILITIES’ SECRET ‘RISK RANKINGS’

READ SUN-TIMES APRIL 2 WATCHDOGS REPORT

Click here to read the Chicago Sun-Times’ April 2 investigation on utility companies including Peoples Gas using secret “risk rankings” to decide which customers who fall behind on their bills will have their service cut off soonest.

What you should know about the city’s heat ordinance

2023-10-31T16:13:07.778-05:00

As Tuesday’s first snowfall of this season showers the city, tenants may want to retreat from the weather into the warmth of their homes and apartments.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Chicago’s harsh winters can bring arctic-like temperatures and leave streets buried in snow.

The municipal code that has regulated how much heat landlords are required to maintain during the cold months was amended by the City Council in March 2005. Former Ald. Billy Ocasio, of the then 26th Ward, had introduced the ordinance in January 2004 after visiting an area school after a cold snap.

“Children there were telling me, ‘We couldn’t sleep last night.’ So, I tried to sleep at 63 degrees, and I couldn’t,” Ocasio told the Sun-Times in January 2004. “It’s just too cold. If our children are not sleeping at 63 degrees, how do we expect them to pay attention and learn something in school?”

The city had previously required units to be heated at 63 degrees during overnight hours, and that requirement was increased to 66 degrees following Ocasio’s push. Nearly 20 years later, the city still enforces regulations on heat in apartments. Here is how it works today across Chicago:

How warm should your home or workplace be in Chicago?

Is today between

June 1 and Sept. 15?

Yes

Are you in a home or in a workplace?

Heat ordinance

does not apply

Home

Workplace

Does your unit have its own heater?

68 °F while occupied *

Yes

68 °F all day

68 °F daytime ,

66 °F nighttime †

* Does not apply if the type of work performed there requires colder temperatures.

† Daytime is 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and the remaining hours are nighttime.

Is today between June 1 and Sept. 15?

Yes

Heat ordinance does not apply

Are you in a home or in a workplace?

Home

Workplace

68 °F while occupied *

Does your unit have its own heater?

Yes

68 °F daytime , 66 °F nighttime †

68 °F all day

* Does not apply if the type of work performed there requires colder temperatures.

† Daytime is 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and the remaining hours are nighttime.

In a residential building that has both a central heater and a central air conditioner, the ordinance makes one more exception. The temperature in a tenant’s unit only has to be at least 64 degrees all day in early fall and in late spring, to give owners some flexibility in when they change from cooling the air to heating it instead.

Early fall starts Sept. 15 and ends when the temperature outdoors first drops below 45 degrees at night — or on Oct. 15 if that hasn’t happened yet. Late spring starts in May once the temperature outdoors first gets above 75 degrees, and it ends June 1.

What else should I know about the city’s heat ordinance?

Here are some ways tenants can navigate not having enough heat in their unit, according to the Chicago Department of Buildings and Philip DeVon, staff attorney with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization:

How do space heaters factor in?

Space heaters can be used by building owners to supplement heat, but they can’t be used to meet the temperature requirements outlined in the ordinance.

What if an apartment isn’t getting sufficient heat?

Tenants should document the situation as much as possible. That includes calling the city’s 311 system to report the lack of heat in their building, request a building inspection and document the reference number for the report.

Tenants can also start a log documenting the temperatures at different times of the day over the course of several days. In addition to logging the readings, tenants can take pictures of the thermometer to document the issue.

Should I tell my landlord about the problem?

Tenants should notify their landlord or building property management company as soon as possible in writing about the issue. The city can impose fines ranging from $500 to $1,000 if building owners violate the heat ordinance.

Can a tenant withhold rent because of a heating issue?

A tenant must write a letter — which includes citing the city ordinance — and deliver it to the landlord before withholding rent for the issue. A reasonable amount of rent can be withheld if the building owner does not fix the issue within 24 hours of when the tenant notified the landlord about the issue. The rules governing when a tenant can do this is part of the city’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance.

What other forms of remedy do tenants have?

Tenants can make an arrangement to have the issue fixed themselves and then deduct the cost from their rent. Tenants also can opt to terminate their lease and move out if the issue is not fixed 72 hours after the landlord was notified about the issue.

What should a landlord do?

The city recommends building owners communicate with residents what work is being done to fix the heating issue, which could include providing space heaters to supplement heat, giving residents a rent credit or finding another temporary shelter for residents.

$20,000 grant from CHA puts homeownership within residents’ reach

2023-10-28T05:30:00-05:00

Samantha Stokes, a first time homeowner, stands in the front of her brand new East Garfield Park home that she shares with her teenage daughter, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. Stokes is the first person to close on a home as part of a new program the Chicago Housing Authority is rolling out for first-time homebuyers. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time

When Samantha Stokes’ daughter walked into their new East Garfield Park home for the first time, the teen took off her shoes and ran around the house.

“So first thing, she goes to see the huge backyard that we have, and the garage and things like that because she’s never had that before,” Stokes recalled. “It was just excitement on her face, and even to this day it’s still hard to believe I’m an actual homeowner.”

About four weeks ago, Stokes, 38, closed on her first home for herself and her 14-year-old daughter. She started exploring buying a home earlier this year after she learned her housing choice voucher through the Chicago Housing Authority would likely phase out because a recent job promotion increased her income.

Stokes was in the process of securing a home through the agency’s Choose to Own program when the agency told her about the new Down Payment Assistance Program they were launching that would provide a grant of up to $20,000 for a down payment and closing costs. Stokes said it felt like a perfect storm — in a good way.

“I was so close toward the closing date of my home, it ended up working out perfectly for me,” she said.

Samantha Stokes, a first-time homeowner, stands in the backyard of her brand new East Garfield Park home that she shares with her teenage daughter on Thursday. Stokes is the first person to close on a home as part of a new program the Chicago Housing Authority is rolling out for first-time homebuyers, the Down Payment Assistance Program.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Stokes is the agency’s first participant to close on a home as part of the new down payment assistance program. The $20,000 will be forgivable after 10 years.

There are already more than a dozen other participants behind Stokes who have been deemed eligible for the grant and are in the process of purchasing a home, said Jimmy Stewart, the manager of home ownership for CHA.

The agency projects it will be able to help about 100 participants in the program’s first year, Stewart said. The program is funded through federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

While Stokes had a housing voucher through the housing authority, Stewart said the program is open to anyone — including those living outside of Chicago — as long as the home purchased is within the city’s boundaries.

However, the program does include other eligibility requirements, such as being a first-time homebuyer who will use the property as their primary residence, he said. In addition, recipients’ income should not exceed 80% of the area median income.

That means a single adult’s income should be at or less than $61,800, and a family of three must have a household of income of or less than $79,450. Participants should also have at least $3,000 in savings.

The housing authority would like the program to assist voucher holders who are nearing 80% of the area median income, meaning they are receiving less assistance but may be wary of seeking homeownership, Stewart said. CHA residents who make just over the 80% threshold because of changes to their income should still apply, especially because they are likely on the brink of losing a voucher or housing assistance.

The program comes as mortgage rates continue to increase across the country. The rate for a 30-year home loan rose to 7.57% earlier this month, the Associated Press reported.

“Considering the climate that we are in when it comes to mortgages right now and people going out to homeownership,” Stewart said, “we believe that this puts them in a competitive advantage and allows them to be able to purchase the home and also have an affordable monthly mortgage amount that is truly achievable without CHA assistance after that.”

Stokes received $20,000 from the new housing authority program, in addition to another $10,000 from another assistance program. She also used $5,000 from her own savings to purchase the West Side, contemporary single-family home, which meant in total she had just over 15% of the total cost of the home.

She previously lived in a small two-bedroom apartment, but the new home offers more space for herself and her daughter. Stokes said she is settling into her home that includes a bigger kitchen where she already envisions children running around during future family get-togethers. An in-unit washer and dryer means she no longer has to make trips to the laundromat.

Her brothers and father have offered to make any needed repairs, though the property is a new construction. Her mother, who lives nearby, has become a frequent visitor.

“They all want to pick out the extra bedroom and say that’s their room when they come over,” she said.

Samantha Stokes, a first-time homeowner, stands in the kitchen of her brand new East Garfield Park home that she shares with her teenage daughter. Stokes is the first person to close on a home as part of a new program the Chicago Housing Authority is rolling out for first-time homebuyers.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Mayor Brandon Johnson hints at return of guaranteed income program

2023-10-20T16:30:41.066-05:00

Yessenia Cervantes-Vázquez, a lead community health worker with Rush Community Health Center helped residents apply for the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, in the basement of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in the Pilsen neighborhood, Saturday afternoon, April 30, 2022.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

A program that provided direct cash assistance to 5,000 Chicago residents in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic could return to City Hall.

In recent remarks to reporters, Mayor Brandon Johnson said he would like to bring back a version of the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, though he did not provide figures for how much it would cost or how the program would work.

Johnson’s office did not respond to requests for additional comment, but he told Crain’s Chicago that the program could come back as soon as next year if he could find funding for it.

During Thursday’s City Council budget hearing, Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze touted the pilot as one of the department’s accomplishments.

“The preliminary results are showing that cash assistance can have long-lasting impact on the recipients in ways that can’t be achieved with other sources of public aid,” Knazze said to City Council members. “Recipients indicated that they spent their money on paying bills, paying down medical debt, purchasing groceries, and that cash had a positive impact on their mental health.”

The pilot was funded with federal coronavirus pandemic relief funds, and it provided 5,000 residents with $500 for a year with no strings attached.

But Knazze and aldermen did not further discuss the future of the program during the lengthy hearing.

Johnson’s administration has been responsive to conversations regarding the future of a guaranteed income program, said Ameya Pawar, senior adviser for the Economic Security Project, which has advocated for similar programs. He said the organization has been in touch with City Hall about turning the pilot into a permanent program, and they feel optimistic about those conversations.

“Guaranteed income fits squarely into the mayor’s thinking and vision around addressing root causes” of poverty, Pawar said. He added that Johnson’s administration is working through the numbers of the possible program.

The University of Chicago is studying the pilot, and earlier published research looked at the level of mental health stresses of applicants before receiving the funds.

Misuzu Schexnider, program director at the university’s Inclusive Economy Lab, said they are still gathering and analyzing data from the pilot, with impact findings likely not ready to be published until 2025.

“The interest in guaranteed income and the impacts of this pilot are definitely exciting,” Schexnider said. “We want to be able to deliver on that so we are working pretty aggressively on making sure that we can study those impacts.”

Rent prices dip slightly in Chicago metro area, report finds

2023-10-16T06:00:00-05:00

Prices in Chicago increased 17% over the summer, but have started to drop, according to digital marketing services company Rent.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Tenants across the Chicago metropolitan area could see a bit of relief as rent prices have started to slowly decrease, according to a newly released report.

The month-over-month rental price in Chicago fell by about 1% from August to September, and the year-over-year figure for the area has also declined about 2%, according to a report from Rent., a digital company that provides marketing services in the real estate industry and is a Redfin company.

The median monthly rental price for the Chicago area stands at $2,389, down from September 2022, when that figure reached $2,437, according to the company. The median rental price is calculated by taking into account a variety of rental property sizes, from studios to three-bedrooms, said Jon Leckie, a researcher with the company.

The Chicago area has been spared from larger increases in rent that other parts of the country have experienced, he said. In New York City, the median rental price is $4,449, and that figure for Los Angeles is $3,575, Leckie said.

Still, the area followed a similar pattern of decreasing rental prices during the early part of the pandemic, followed by a period of increases in rental prices. Rents in Chicago increased by 17% last summer but have started to drop.

“Chicago has kind of been on this wild ride, but it seems like prices have leveled out to sort of where they were before the pandemic,” Leckie said.

Across the country, rent prices dropped by about 2% in September for the first time in six months, the report found. However, prices are still slightly higher than they were around this time last year. The national median rent price is $2,011, according to the report.

Leckie said some of the dips could be attributed to lower demand among tenants, mixed with more new construction.

But at least one renter, Suleha Khan, said rent prices still seem too high in the Chicago area.

Khan, 26, of Skokie, is a single mother of a 4-year-old girl, and she’s been on the hunt for a new apartment. It’s been a struggle to find an affordable unit in a neighborhood close to her daughter’s school, she said.

She has looked at apartments ranging from $1,400 to $1,800 a month, but she hasn’t had luck in securing a new home.

“I really don’t believe that it’s decreasing,” Khan said. “I think it’s increasing every single time, and it’s so hard to get nowadays a property for rent because a lot of average people, we make like $3,000 a month.”

Jason Wagner, a member of the Chicago-based Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance’s issues and policy group, says they are continuing to see rent prices increase within the boundaries of Chicago. However, monthly rental prices won’t rise as quickly.

The rental boom that took place during the coronavirus pandemic led to higher than average growth rates of rental prices, Wagner said. The market’s current growth rate is about 3.5%, but the city had typically experienced rents growing by 1% to 2% year over year.

“Rents will still increase but at a slower rate and getting back down to that normalization point is between 1% to 2%,” Wagner said.

More tenants are sticking to the same apartment, which could be contributing to a lower vacancy rate in the city, Wagner said. And while the city has made progress in building more units, Wagner said Chicago needs more apartments to bring down rental prices.

“The only way for rent prices to come down is if we have a lot more inventory that comes to the market, and we have a leveling out of the supply and demand,” he said.

Leckie recommended that anyone looking for an apartment hold off on moving until the winter if possible. Although the pandemic upended rental trends, prices are starting to follow the seasonal trends that had typically been the norm.

“Winters are probably not ideal to move in Chicago, but that’s when you are going to get the lowest prices,” he said. “That’s when demand is the lowest, and even among the volatile swings that we’ve seen in Chicago, the bottoms of those swings have happened closer to the winter months than they have to the summer months.”

Fighting gentrification in Little Village, residents look to create a housing co-op

2023-09-15T16:45:00.691-05:00

Maria de la Luz Rodriguez hands out flyers to her community meeting set for Monday at 5 p.m. about Cooperativa La Villita in Little Village. The group aims to explore starting their own housing cooperative in the neighborhood to try to fend off gentrification and displacement.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

When the building where Maria de la Luz Rodriguez has lived in Little Village was put up for sale, she and other residents rallied to buy it themselves.

But just as they were organizing, the property was sold to a another group of buyers. Frustrated, Rodriguez braced for a rent increase.

At the time, she hadn’t heard about housing cooperatives. But she learned about them soon enough, when she found herself in a meeting with other residents working to buy a building in Little Village.

“This is what I wanted,” she said. “I don’t want to leave. There are many people who love Little Village but had to leave.”

Rodriguez is part of the newly formed Cooperativa La Villita, a group of about seven people searching for a residential building to buy to live in and preserve housing for longtime residents.

Maria de la Luz Rodriguez hands out flyers this week for a community meeting for Cooperativa La Villita in Little Village. The group wants to buy a building to fend off gentrification and displacement.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

The group, formed this year, already has secured a $150,000 grant from the city funded with federal pandemic relief money, according to the city’s website. Half the grant can be used toward the purchase of the building with the rest intended to support the group as it establishes itself.

Across the Chicago area, there are already more than 10,000 cooperative units, often referred to as co-ops, said David Feinberg, of the Chicago Community Loan Fund, which provides loans for co-ops that need improvements in common areas. A co-op is controlled and owned by the people living on the property who are members of the cooperative.

Feinberg has noticed more interest in this type of housing in particular since the city created a grant program for it.

“I think we have seen a new wave, a new resurgence to something that’s been there for a while,” he said.

In the past, some co-ops grew out of properties formerly owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that were purchased by tenants with a shared interest. Others grew out of tenants rights movements, Feinberg said. Some newer co-ops are forming to fend off displacement and gentrification, he said.

Robin Semer, who is helping organize the group but does not intend to live in the cooperative, said she decided to explore what it would take to bring a housing cooperative to Little Village after volunteering with Únete La Villita, a community organization, and hearing from residents facing evictions, rising rents and others who couldn’t afford to stay in the neighborhood.

She also knows more development is likely in the neighborhood, especially because of changes to the Discount Mall, located at the entrance of Little Village, which housed local vendors but is in the process of being redeveloped.

“What can we do to ensure people aren’t kicked out of their homes because more and more people have to leave?” Semer asked.

When she attended an event related to housing cooperatives, she met other Little Village residents who were also interested in this type of housing model.

As the group has grown, they’ve spent the last couple of months hashing out details of how the cooperative will operate, leaning toward a limited equity model that could help them access below-market interest rate mortgages. A limited equity model typically restricts what a person can get from the sale of their shares in the cooperative.

But the biggest hurdle may be the cost of purchasing a building and ensuring it remains an affordable option for people with various income levels, Semer said. Many people interested in forming the cooperative make below 60% of the area’s median income.

“Our goal is to do absolutely whatever we can to lower the amount for the residents,” said Semer, adding that the group is researching grants, other forms of funding or even becoming a nonprofit.

Maria de la Luz Rodriguez hands out flyers about her community meeting for Cooperativa La Villita.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Their efforts come amid a competitive housing market. Over the last year, fewer homes have been for sale in Little Village, mirroring the market throughout Chicago, said Erika Villegas, the incoming president of the Chicago Association of Realtors. The area has seen about a 50% decrease in new property listings, and about a 50% decrease in closed sales, she said.

The median sale price for Little Village properties has increased this year. The median price for two- to four-unit buildings in South Lawndale was $280,000 in 2022, and that figure has risen to $292,985 as of this year’s second quarter, according to data from the Chicago Association of Realtors.

“I think that Little Village will continue to be a tight market, and we see that anything that goes active on the MLS (multiple listing service) very quickly goes under contract,” Villegas said. “So I think that’s a sign that the market is still pretty hot in Little Village.”

One of the challenges for housing cooperatives has been finding lenders who provide share loans, Feinberg said. A share loan allows members of a cooperative to borrow money to purchase shares of the building, according to the National Association of Housing Cooperatives.

The shortage of share loans has led some newly formed co-ops to seek out private philanthropy and public incentives to reduce the amount a person is paying for the shares, Feinberg said.

“In the absence of share loans, we are seeing some of the creative capital structures to try to accommodate that,” he said.

For Rodriguez, the hot market and possible uphill battle to securing funds to purchase the building doesn’t dissuade her. She’s willing to try multiple avenues until they find something that works for the group, she said.

“We are competing with people who have a lot of money, but we have a lot of heart and soul,” Rodriguez said.

On a recent Tuesday, Rodriguez passed out flyers to parents outside Daniel J. Corkery elementary school in Little Village to get the word out about the cooperative’s next meeting at 5 p.m. Monday. It’s at the Toman branch of the Chicago Public Library, 2708 S. Pulaski Road. The group wants to include as many residents as possible in the cooperative.

As children played on the school’s playground and parents huddled waiting for the school’s bell, Rodriguez passed out flyers and tried to explain what a housing cooperative meant.

Maria Moreno, a Little Village resident and Rodriguez’s friend, helped her pass out flyers. Moreno, 47, said she is interested in learning more about how the cooperative would work. She and her husband have been shut out of homeownership because of credit problems.

“We continue paying rent, but we don’t get anything from it,” she said in Spanish.

The group plans to host more community meetings to try to recruit interested residents and to reach property owners who might want to sell to them or join them, Rodriguez said.

They also want to ensure the building has a mission tied to helping the community. While some of the cooperative’s group members are immigrants, Semer said they also want to be inclusive and reach other area residents, which is why their materials have been bilingual.

“Someone who has the need and sees community as an important part of life,” Semer said about the potential residents they’re trying to reach. “Because to live in a cooperative, everyone has to have a job, everyone has to participate, and living in a cooperative isn’t for everyone.”

Rodriguez, who has lived in Little Village since she immigrated to the United States, said she wants to stay in the neighborhood, and sees the cooperative as a way to do that.

“Little Village is my home, and I like it a lot,” she said. “It’s a piece of Mexico, and I think that’s why people love Little Village.”

A mosaic decorates the outside of Daniel J. Corkery elementary at 2510 S. Kildare Ave. in Little Village., where flyers were given out about a meeting to explore cooperative housing in the neighborhood.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.

Nearly 65% of homeless population in Chicago lives in doubled-up, temporary housing

2023-09-13T15:20:17.337-05:00

Electa Bey said she didn’t consider herself unhoused when she moved in with relatives temporarily after her husband died. “I’m like, OK, I’m staying with family — doesn’t mean I’m homeless. But it did. I had to look at it and say, wait a minute, I have to go sooner or later.”

Jim Vondruska / For the Sun-Times

For about six months, Electa Bey lived with relatives as she saved up money for a new apartment and took the time to find one.

At the time, she didn’t consider herself unhoused. She had just lost her husband, and she was temporarily staying with relatives. She says that she now realizes she was among those doubling up in homes across Chicago.

“I didn’t know I was homeless,” Bey said. “I’m like, OK, I’m staying with family — doesn’t mean I’m homeless. But it did. I had to look at it and say, wait a minute, I have to go sooner or later.”

A recently released report from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless found that the number of people without a permanent home and who are temporarily living in a shelter, on the streets or with others increased across the city from past years to 68,440 people in 2021.

Nearly 65% of those residents — an estimated 44,429 — are temporarily living with other people, which is often referred to as doubling up.

Sometimes referred to as “couch surfing,” people in these situations fall outside traditional definitions of what constitutes a household member and can’t afford to contribute to household expenses, said Sam Paler-Ponce, manager of research and outreach for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Adult children who have their own children or are married or living in an overcrowded place are considered part of this tally, according to the report.

Nearly 35% of those doubling up were on the city’s South Side in neighborhoods spanning from Greater Grand Crossing to Auburn Gresham to Pullman, according to the analysis from the coalition. Another 32% of people were in West Side neighborhoods such as Austin, Humboldt Park and Belmont Cragin.

An additional 12% of people in doubled-up situations are on the city’s Southwest Side in neighborhoods like Brighton Park, Gage Park and West Lawn. About 11% are on the city’s Northwest Side in Irving Park, Albany Park and Avondale. Another 9% are temporarily living in North Side neighborhoods like Edgewater, West Ridge and North Center, while less than 1% are in the Loop, Near South Side and Near North Side.

“These doubled-up families are not in typical home-sharing situations,” said Paler-Ponce. “It’s situations of poor Chicagoans that can’t afford to live on their own or formerly contributed to household costs. These are precarious, often overcrowded, always temporary situations that are often missing in data.”

Across the country, about 3.7 million people in 2019 were living in doubled-up situations, said Andrew Aurand, senior vice president for research at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. He said research has shown that families living in this type of housing are typically in overcrowded spaces with higher levels of stress.

“Many times that type of housing situation is not sustainable in the longer run, so it’s short-term,” Aurand said. “It’s considered a risk factor for more severe forms of homelessness.”

Bey, who is now a housing outreach coordinator at Communities United, said it took her about six months to get back on her feet and secure permanent housing on her own. For her, it wasn’t just that she couldn’t afford a new place, but also requirements such as a specific credit score also slowed her housing search.

“There’s a lot of things that will wind up making you homeless,” she said.

Electa Bey stands for a portrait inside the Communities United office in Hermosa.

Jim Vondruska / For the Sun-Times

In particular, families are often the ones who end up in doubled-up households, Paler-Ponce said.

When Bey knocks on doors as part of her role at Communities United, she said she often finds families that are living with other families. Some families tell her they worry about being separated at shelters, and instead decide to temporarily live with other families. Others do so to stay in a certain area.

“They don’t want to leave their neighborhood,” she said. “They don’t want to leave the school, and so they do that.”

Communities United and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless are among community organizations supporting “Bring Chicago Home,” a proposed city ordinance that would generate funds to address homelessness by using fees from some real estate sales. A compromise version of the proposal is expected to be introduced at Thursday’s City Council meeting.

Bey said that more affordable housing — rather than shelters — is needed to help families find homes and reduce the number of people doubling up in homes across Chicago.

“That’s how you combat some of the homelessness,” Bey said. “You have to start somewhere. We know that the best way to build a person’s character and their competence is them having a key to open the door that belongs to themself.”

Aurand said the organization has been advocating on the federal level for more rental assistance to help low-income residents access market-rate apartments, and for more funding to increase the number of affordable housing units.

“There’s really no housing market in the country that provides an adequate supply of housing for extremely low-income renters,” Aurand said. “So if they lose their current housing, they have very few options. One of those options is, of course, this form of doubling up.”

Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.

First buses of migrants arrived in Chicago a year ago. Journey to asylum for Vannessa Olivera, others is just beginning

2023-08-25T06:25:07.897-05:00

Vannessa Olivera, at home in Kilbourn Park. Her family has found some footing as they try to win asylum and anxiously await their work permits.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

Vannessa Olivera checks the mailbox of her family’s Northwest Side home daily, but the documents that could shape her future are nowhere to be found.

Seven months ago, Olivera, her husband and their four children applied for asylum. But they still haven’t been given a date to make their case in immigration court.

More than five months ago, she and her husband applied for authorization to work pending their immigration case but still haven’t gotten any update on that.

“It makes you more anxious than what you already are, and that produces stress, impatience and uncertainty, not knowing when we are going to have a court date where we can explain what happened to us,” Olivera said in Spanish. “All of that leaves us in uncertainty.”

Olivera, 35, and her family arrived in Chicago early last September. They were among the first wave of immigrants sent to Chicago on buses last fall from Texas by that state’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, who sent migrants to Democrat-led cities.

Since last August 2022, more than 13,000 immigrants have arrived in Chicago. Like Olivera, many of them fled Venezuela and are now seeking asylum in the United States.

Navigating the transition from temporary to long-term U.S. resident is a journey in itself, one that takes years. Many who have arrived in the last year are seeking asylum. Some who, like Olivera, have applied for asylum have a long wait until their cases come to immigration court, according to immigration lawyers, some being given hearing dates as far away as 2025.

In the government’s 2022 budget year, an asylum case in immigration court in Chicago was pending for about four years — from time filed to an asylum hearing, according to a Syracuse University analysis.

As of this month, more than 6,000 immigrants remain in city of Chicago shelters, and 1,080 people are sleeping at police stations and airports awaiting a shelter bed, according to city officials.

Health of thousands of migrants at Chicago police stations is in the hands of volunteer Mobile Migrant Health Team

Bus ride becomes blessing

Olivera’s family planned to settle in New York City. But they were told they could get on a bus to Chicago or to San Antonio, Texas.

It wasn’t until later that Olivera said she realized she and her family were pawns in a national debate on immigration policy.

Still, she said the bus trip to Chicago turned into a “blessing.”

Though her asylum case remains in limbo after applying about seven months ago,her family has begun putting down roots on the Northwest Side after months of living at a Salvation Army shelter and a suburban hotel state officials turned into a temporary refuge for immigrants.

Seeking asylum

Enters on a visa or

enters without detection

Presents at a port of entry without a via or enters between ports of entry without inspection

Possible expedited removal

Affirmative asylum

process

Credible Fear

Interview

Fear found

No fear

found

NTA issued and

filed with

immigration court

Affirmative asylum

process

Deportation

Defensive asylum

process

Seeking asylum

Enters on a visa or

enters without detection

Presents at a port

of entry without a visa or enters between ports of entry without inspection

Possible expedited

removal

Affirmative asylum

process

Credible Fear

Interview

Fear

found

No fear

found

NTA issued and

filed with

immigration court

Deportation

Affirmative

asylum

process

Defensive

asylum

process

Immigrants like Olivera, who have now been in Chicago for nearly a year, find themselves trying to gain independence and stability and awaiting work authorization and updates to their immigration cases.

Asylum-seekers must file their application within a year of entering the United States. There are two types of asylum cases — known as affirmative and defensive — and many of those who have arrived in the last year are in the defensive track, meaning they are seeking asylum as a defense from deportation. If a charging document has not been filed in immigration court, the person can seek affirmative asylum.

Asylum-seekers can apply for a work permit 150 days after filing an asylum application.

But legal experts say it can take longer if someone changes addresses, misses an appointment or seeks extra time to find a lawyer.

Affirmative asylum process

Application must be filed within a year of arrival in the U.S.

The person is interviewed about their claim in an interview setting that is considered non adversarial.

Optional: An applicant can seek a work permit 150 days after the asylum application was filed.

It could take years for an interview date to be set once a person applies for asylum.

The asylum officer makes a decision on the case.

There were 389 cases that were granted asylum in this process from June 2022 to May 2023, according to data from USCIS.

Referral to an

immigration court

Granted Asylum

Notice of Intent to Deny

Defensive asylum

process

Final denial

Leave country when visa or other

form of status expires

Affirmative asylum process

Application must be filed within a year of arrival in the U.S.

The person is interviewed about their claim in an interview setting that is considered non adversarial.

Optional: An applicant can seek a work permit 150 days after the asylum application was filed.

It could take years for an interview date to be set once a person applies for asylum.

The asylum officer makes a decision on the case.

There were 389 cases that were granted asylum in this process from June 2022 to May 2023, according to data from USCIS.

Referral to an

immigration court

Granted

Asylum

Notice of Intent

to Deny

Defensive

asylum

process

Final denial

Leave country when visa or other

form of status expires

Asylum-seekers’ long wait for work permits: ‘It feels terrible, especially because I’m used to working’

If granted asylum, a person must wait an additional year before seeking permanent residency, known as a green card. Then, a permanent resident typically waits five years before applying for U.S. citizenship.

Olivera and her family were given rental assistance for six months from the state of Illinois to settle in a three-bedroom home. But the family has had to scrape together what they can to pay $1,800 a month for rent, which includes utilities.

Defensive asylum process

Master Calendar Hearing before judge

Optional: An applicant can seek a work permit 150 days after the asylum application was filed.

Merits/Individual Hearing before judge

Asylum denied and

individual appeals

Granted Asylum

Deportation

Defensive asylum process

Master Calendar Hearing before judge

Optional: An applicant can seek a work permit 150 days after the asylum application was filed.

Merits/Individual Hearing before judge

Granted

Asylum

Deportation

Asylum denied and

individual appeals

Jesse Howe and Elvia Malagón/Sun-Times Sources: Alexis Aranda Zelasko, attorney with Instituto del Progreso Latino; Lisa Koop, director of the National Immigrant Justice Center’s asylum project, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

Vannessa and Carlos Olivera’s wedding photo at their home in Kilbourn Park on the Northwest Side.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

Rincon Family Services, one of the organizations that aided immigrants staying at the temporary hotels last year, helped negotiate the lease agreement, Olivera said, and helped the family furnish the place.

The couple has an 11-year-old son, a 7-year-old son, a 5-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old daughter.

Over the last year, the older children began picking up English while starting new schools.

And Olivera, who has spent the last year taking English classes through City Colleges, is finding it easier to navigate doctor’s appointments on her own.

“There was a reason God brought me to this city,” she said. “The doors closed in one place, but we were blessed and privileged to get here.”

Vannessa Olivera plays with son Liam’s hair as they watch TV at their home in Kilbourn Park.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

Trying to reunite

Ivette Cuello, 34, arrived in Chicago with her husband and their 8-year-old daughter late last August. She said they came by plane — not a bus — after a religious organization in Texas paid for their tickets and told them about Chicago.

They stayed briefly at a city shelter with other migrant families before moving to a suburban hotel that the state made a temporary refuge.

But the death of another immigrant, Rona Rozo, during their time in the hotel left her shaken.

Death in shelter for immigrants highlights mental health challenges asylum seekers could face

“When that situation happened, things got complicated because people were already tired of being inside all day,” Cuello said of living at the hotel.

Ivette Cuello at her home in Garfield Ridge. She longs for her two teenage daughters to be here. They were left behind in Venezuela as the rest of her family has started to put down roots in Chicago.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

The death prompted the family to search harder for permanent housing, she said. A Honduran immigrant they met while walking around Chicago told them about an apartment in Garfield Ridge, where Cuello’s family now lives with other relatives.

Like Olivera, Cuello said the family got six months of rental assistance but now must cover the $1,600 monthly rent and utilities.

Cuello said she’s adjusting to living on the Southwest Side. She applied for asylum about three months ago. She isn’t eligible to seek a work permit because she must wait 150 days after that.

Cuello said her two teenage daughters stayed in Venezuela because she feared what could have happened to them on the journey from South America to the U.S. border. But now that she’s settled, she’s seeking ways to safely get her daughters to Chicago.

“I want to bring my daughters,” she said. “It’s the only thing I’m missing.”

Ivette Cuello shows a photo of her daughters Nayelis and Mayerli Rodriguez. They stayed in Venezuela. She, her husband and her 8-year-old daughter, Katherine Rodriguez, arrived in Chicago last August.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

‘Great sense of relief’

In an apartment on the Near West Side, a man named Daniel folded his hands as if praying, saying his only wish is for his family to be granted asylum. Nearby, his 3-year-old daughter picked up a pillow and raced around the living room.

“You feel a great sense of relief here,” Daniel said, speaking on the condition that his and his wife Yurimar’s last names not be published out of fear that speaking might hurt their asylum case.

They were sent by bus from Texas last October after leaving Venezuela.

“There’s freedom,” Daniel said, unlike in Venezuela, where he said, “There wasn’t any. That was a dictatorship.”

For three months, they lived with other migrant families at a hotel-turned-temporary shelter. By January, with rental assistance and the help of the state and nonprofits, they got an apartment on the Near West Side for $1,250 a month.

They now feel more on their own as they try to navigate the asylum process and getting work permits and figuring out the complexities of credit scores. Many of their relatives are far away in South American countries.

“You feel that change, that you can accomplish many things, but you also feel nostalgia to be able to share the little that you have with your family,” Yurimar said.

Their daughter sometimes asks about the people who lived at the hotel with them. The families shared meals, and the children often played together.

Yurimar is adjusting to life in Chicago, learning to ride the CTA and understanding the messages in English. The couple has taken online English classes, and Daniel would like to eventually get a job in the tech industry.

Their new home seems completely different from the way they lived in their native Venezuela. They have easier access to food and medicine and can count on their utilities working.

“Here, you live like someone should live or like how it used to be in Venezuela,” Daniel said.

Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.