My tenants' group is seeking help dealing with our landlord. Right now, we are in the publicity phase of our fight: we are asking people to spread the word about our GoFundMe, and the SubStack I setup to provide updates. The linked post is more of a greatest hits, we'll be posting a deep dive on each building in the coming days.
The Substack goes more in depth. Skytown Properties is a property management company with several buildings in Chicago, Illinois. Over the past year, all have Skytown’s residential buildings have become progressively unlivable. Tenants have complained through Skytown’s online system, to its revolving door of property managers, directly to the landlord, and finally to the City. On the rare occasion when an issue is addressed, it takes weeks or months to actually happen.
One building hasn't had heat since October of last year. The same building has major plumbing issues that have led to multiple collapsed floors.
At my building, about half of the units are without heat and our front door was stolen. I travel for work; when I returned home yesterday, it was 26°F inside my apartment. One of my neighbors was stabbed because without a front door we have almost no security.
At another building, they didn't have trash pickup for several months. It was disgusting to smell; their Alderman called it "the blight of the neighborhood". The same building has a recurring burst pipe that has led to structural damage: it has electrical problems and several units are without heat. A tenant died last weekend in his apartment lacking heat. When the CPD were told that he was a tenant not a squatter, they documented how poorly the building was maintained as part of a potential homicide investigation.
Please visit the SubStack for more information on the squalor.
We are asking that anyone who can, please spread the word through any means: X/Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, BlueSky... whatever you use, please post a link. If anyone is willing to spam Chicago Alderman, I'll be posting contact information for the ones we think will be receptive. If anyone has any ties to the media, please contact them. This situation is becoming intolerable.
CW: if you do visit the GoFundMe, there is a photo of the bloody mess left after my neighbor was stabbed.
