Residents of Humboldt Park Section 8 building fight to keep it affordable

The fate of one 26-unit apartment building might not seem like much in the grander scheme of preserving affordable housing in Chicago.

Just don’t tell that to the residents of 2815-2821 W. Division St. They have gone as far as to explore buying the building to save themselves from possible displacement and also to keep its Section 8 rental assistance in place for future residents.

It all started this spring, when Amir Syed, owner of the brick courtyard building facing the southeast corner of Humboldt Park, informed tenants he doesn’t intend to renew the project-based Section 8 contact through which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidizes the rent on their apartments.

Instead of waiting for whatever fate might befall them when the contract expires next year, the residents — largely elderly and Spanish-speaking — organized and fought back. With help from the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, Shriver Center on Poverty Law and Grassroots Illinois Action, they formed the Division Street Rehab Tenant Association and invoked a little-used state law.

The Illinois Federally Assisted Housing Preservation Act allows tenant groups in their situation to attempt to purchase the property in partnership with a developer who will preserve it as affordable housing.

No tenant group has ever been able to close such a deal, advocates say, but there’s a first time for everything, and tenants are already interviewing developers who have expressed interest.

Tenants say their goal is to keep the Section 8 contract in place and to get the building fixed up, whether that’s through the current owner or the next — though they’d rather be rid of Syed, who they say has failed to keep the property in good repair.

Bonnie Varney, a lawyer for Syed, said the Division Street building is in better condition than when Syed bought it and that “he’s not to looking to sell.”

Varney said tenants would be better off if the property were no longer subject to the project-based Section 8 contract, in which case current residents would be eligible for Section 8 vouchers letting them move elsewhere rather than be tied to the location.

But they say there are few other places they could afford to live in gentrifying Humboldt Park, which has long been a center of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community.

“My kids grew up in this neighborhood. They got married. I’m by myself. I don’t want to leave this place,” said Sonia Valdes, 56, who has lived in the building for five years and emerged as a leader of the tenant group.

Varney said Syed intends to keep all his current tenants but chose to opt out because he doesn’t want to get locked into another 10-year contract with fixed rents and rules that make it difficult to evict problem tenants. Switching tenants to vouchers also would let him “raise the economic profile of the building,” she said. Which I translate as “raise rents.”

“This is not an evil guy who is trying to screw everyone,” Varney said. “We’re not trying to kick everyone out. He’s not trying to keep this from being an affordable place to live.”

Emily Coffey, a Shriver Center lawyer representing the tenants, said the building is in such poor condition it could fail inspection, forcing tenants to move despite their legal right to remain. Syed also could choose to convert the building to condos, though that’s not the current market trend.

Andriana Vera, 24, who lives in the building with her diabetic father and infant daughter, said their unit has been one of the most neglected, with mold under the sink, cracks in the walls and a leaky bathroom ceiling. When we spoke, she was without a working refrigerator.

In the project-based Section 8 program, HUD contracts with private owners to provide housing to qualifying low-income families in exchange for guaranteed rental subsidies. The subsidy stays with the building, not with the tenant.

The federal government stopped funding new project-based Section 8 developments in the 1980s. That’s resulted in a large reduction of available units over time, as owners opt out when their contract expires.

For that reason, advocates have made a priority of preserving the project-based subsidized buildings that remain, especially in areas like Humboldt Park, where rising costs are pushing out longtime residents.

“For us to have to move from that apartment, we wouldn’t be able to live anywhere near here,” Vera said.

As for her neighbors who might be tempted by the vouchers, she said: “You have to paint the bigger picture for them — keeping the units affordable for as long as we can.”