Chicago Ald. Leslie Hairston
thought she'd finally put the kibosh on the city's habit of handing public
money to landlords the city was suing for major building code violations. Hairston worked for at least three years to pass a measure to cut slumlords out of city contracts.
"While I couldn't stop them from collecting money from the
federal government," she told us of the anti-slumlord ordinance adopted by the City Council in January, "I could do something about the
city contracts."
But eight months after the ordinance went into effect, one of the city's most troubled and politically connected landlords, Leon Finney Jr., is still getting more than a million dollars in public money. Finney, who helped found The Woodlawn Organization and the Woodlawn
Community Development Corporation, since January has managed to pull in nearly $1.3 million in affordable housing money and other city contracts, according to procurement records obtained by The Chicago Reporter. (For some background on the groups check out this article we dug out of our archives). Here's a look at those grants:
Over that same time period, the city initiated 15 separate legal cases against
the South Side developer for violations including rat infestations, broken
plumbing, leaking roofs and deteriorating porches, according to the Reporter's review of court records.
New management was even brought in at one property, at
under an emergency court order after Finney's Southside
Preservation Portfolio LLC failed to kick on the heat in the winter of 2009. So
far this year, that business has pocketed $48,960 in
subsidies from the city's
Low Income Housing Trust Fund for another building, 8222-32 S. Ingleside, that's mired in court because of violations that include standing sewage water and mold.
Meanwhile, the city also gave Finney's Woodlawn Development Association $12,852 this year from the same housing trust to offset rents at 6224-26 S. Kimbark Ave. Conditions were so deplorable there that tenants staged a press conference at City Hall in January, begging city officials to force Finney to maintain their buildings.
"I have four kids," a tearful renter LaTasha Edwards said at the time. "I'm up all
night long making sure that nothing crawls on my kids." Check out this clip:
To their credit, city officials did take Finney to task over the building's conditions by iniating the court cases. They've yet to shut off the spigot of public money though.
Buildings Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey tells us that city officials are still trying to sort out how
to enforce the ordinance. "What is a habitual offender" and other definitions are still being worked out internally, he says. To that end, some amendments aimed at
working out the kinks was introduced by Hairston in May. The real hold up, McCaffrey tells us, is that city staffers have yet to write the rules for enforcement. "Until that's done," he tells us, " we can't move forward on enforcement action."
For
years the city has handed Finney's groups millions in grants and housing
subsidies even though his buildings have been in and out of housing court. How much it's cost taxpayers is a mystery. The city doesn't try to recoup its legal
fees in housing court cases, Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle
tells us. "There's no doubt that it's costing resources," she adds.
Since 2007, The Woodlawn Organization and its affiliates -- including the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation, Southside
Preservation Portfolio LLC -- have nearly $3 million in local contracts and housing subsidies, city records show. Since then, Mayor Richard M. Daley has also re-appointed Finney to the Chicago Plan Commission, an oversight board with a reputation for rubber
stamping the mayor's top development priorities.
Ironically, Finney wasn't Hairston's target. The pair have a
"good" relationship, the alderman tells us. As evidence, Finney himself made two
$500 contributions to her campaign fund last year, public records show.
"When you manage large numbers of properties," Hairston says of The Woodlawn Organization's less-than-stellar track record in building court, "there are going to be buildings
out of order."
But that's not always the case. Some of the city's most prolific
subsidized housing landlords, like Metroplex and Holsten Management, have (for the most part) steered clear of housing court.
The bottom line, the Metropolitan Tenants Organization's John
Bartlett tells us: "The city needs to say, 'We're not going to be
entering into any new contracts with known slumlords ... [Hairston's ordinance] sets
standards for what the city is going to tolerate."
(h/t Progress Illinois)
--Originally published 9/14/2010 at 7:30 a.m.
Filed under: Criminal Justice, Government and Politics, Housing
Angela,
I'm glad someone is reporting on the inconsistencies that exist between official policy and defacto policy in the city. While I don't live in a TWO building, I do live near the former church of Rev. Finney and has that ever been an experience.
http://ihatemydeveloper.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Woodlawn%20Organization
Keep up the good (and revealing) work!