Faith leaders pray for action at Alderman Joe Moore’s Office

Tenants at Rogers Park’s Astor House building are joining with religious leaders to hold a prayer vigil asking that 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore convene negotiations between Astor House tenants and BJB Properties, Inc. 

Tenants, religious leaders, and supporters will gather at 5 p.m. outside Ald. Moore’s Office at 7356 N. Greenview. They will pray for Ald. Moore to take action and remedy the unjust situation at Astor House, which threatens Rogers Park’s affordability and diversity.

Several tenants at the 1246 W. Pratt Astor House building, including Arbie Bowman and her 8-year-old daughter Rosie, are scheduled to be evicted in the coming two weeks and have nowhere to go. They will likely end up on the streets unless Moore takes action.

“BJB is putting us (existing tenants) in an unfavorable position by not accepting rent money and ignoring these hazardous living conditions,” Bowman says.

Reverend Kenneth Wesbrooks of A Work of Faith Ministries, Inc., in Rogers Park, plans to join in with tenants at Wednesday’s vigil. He says that affordable housing promotes stable families and communities. 

“As a steward of violence-prevention efforts in the community, I recognize family displacement often leads to dysfunctional families and dysfunctional families often produce angry youth. These angry youth in turn are forced into the streets, where drugs and violence become their new landlords,” Wesbrooks says.

Despite serious problems in the Astor House building — such as bedbugs, mice, lack of hot water, and elevator problems — BJB is rushing to rent recently rehabbed units to new tenants, while denying existing tenants the opportunity to renew their leases.

These rehabbed units are being rented as non-negotiable six-month leases at higher rates of $695 to $825. Yet several new tenants who signed short-term leases are reporting the same problems of mice and roaches.

“BJB did not disclose these problems to new tenants, or the fact that they are in housing court,” Bowman says. “Several new tenants left almost immediately after seeing these poor building conditions.”

Tenants and supporters have been asking Alderman Moore for months to stand for affordable housing and use his power to convene a meeting with tenants and the building’s owner, BJB Principal Joe Slezak. Moore’s inaction is paving the way for BJB and other large developers to profit from more expensive housing while making tenants homeless.