Following 147 building inspections conducted over the weekend, the Departments of Buildings and Law are fast-tracking 19 city buildings to Circuit Court Monday for living conditions with dangerous lack of heat.
The city received 594 calls over the past week from residents who complained of having no heat, conducted 583 total inspections of which 39 cases were referred to the Department of Law to process for circuit court.
Out of the 39 cases, 19 were severe enough to be forced to immediately be summoned to the emergency heat court hearing Monday.
The emergency court hearing follows Mayor Emanuel’s call for the city to crack down on negligent landlords, even launching a Problem Landlord List which helps renters stay away from building owners with a proven problematic past.
The landlords who make the list have a history of citations from previous tenants for lacking basic services such as proper heat, hot water and compliant smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
If building owners continue to have reported violations, they may be taken to court or in the worst cases lose their properties.
“Under Mayor Emanuel’s direction, we will continue to focus our efforts on no heat inspections as long as the cold endures to make sure tenants have heat as quickly as possible," Building Department Commissioner Felicia Davis said in a statement Monday. “We will continue to hold landlords accountable for providing heat during these dangerous cold temperatures and to ensure they are providing basic safety standards and protections."
Local
If Alex Galmore wants to stay warm inside his Southwest Side apartment in the 7200 block of South Richmond, he has to plug in multiple space heaters and turn on a gas stove because his furnace doesn't not work.
“If the stove and the heaters weren’t on [it gets down to the] 20 and 15s [in temperature],” Galmore said. “It’s pretty unbearable.”
Galmore’s neighbor, Rochella Murray, also has a similar problem.
“The only heat that you have is this right here,” Murray said of her stove. “When you go into the bedroom, it feels like [you’re] outdoors.”
Both tenants have been complaining to the landlord about the lack of heat in their building, which is one of 19 cited by the city for having dangerously low heat.
For that reason, the city took 19 landlords to court Monday afternoon in order to force them to fix the problem.
The 19 buildings expected in Monday's court hearing are:
• 7249 S. Richmond;
• 5658 S. Wells;
• 7625-33 S. East End;
• 3493 N. Karlov / 4040 W. Roscoe;
• 3301-05 W. Bryn Mawr/ 5548-54 N. Spaulding;
• 5049-57 W. Ferdinand;
• 6840 S. Throop;
• 1902 N. Kildare;
• 6701-15 S. Merrill / 2135-41 E. 67th St;
• 2607-09 N. Lavergne / 4956-58 W. Wrightwood;
• 4631-35 S. Lake Park Ave;
• 4422 S. Saint Lawrence;
• 9449-53 S. Loomis / 1354-58 W. 95th St;
• 5706 S. Christiana;
• 10745 S. Eggleston;
• 3535-39 W 63rd Pl;
• 1632 W. 100th Pl;
• 6514-16 S. Talman;
• 4434 W. Monroe.
