St. Edmunds Village Tenants and Ally Organizations to Protest “inhumane” Living Conditions at Low Income Housing Board Meeting

Tenants from St. Edmunds Village, a subsidized building in the Washington Park neighborhood, will protest the building owner, Rev. Richard Tolliver, who is a board member of the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund, at their board meeting on Tuesday, March 11. Tenants are demanding to meet with Rev. Tolliver so that he can do something about their inhumane living conditions, which include rodents, leaky windows, mold, broken laundry machines, and more. Tenants will picket and protest outside of the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund board meeting, 2 N. LaSalle, starting at 8:40am.

Tenants say they have tried to meet with the building owner for over six months, but he has refused to meet with them. As the snow melts water has been leaking into tenants’ units and they say they have had enough. “As a man of God, we hope that Rev. Tolliver will do what is right and meet with the tenants” said Janet Wilson, a tenant leader from the building.

Tenants say Rev. Tolliver is a close friend and ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In 2011 the Mayor appointed Rev.  Tolliver to his transition team assigned to the transportation and infrastructure committee.

In 2012, Mayor Emanuel appointed Rev.  Tolliver to the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund, from which he has received at least $74,000 in grants. Rev. Tolliver is the President and CEO of the St. Edmunds Redevelopment Corporation which owns St. Edmunds Village and developed nearly 600 units in the Washington Park neighborhood at a cost of $72M.

Tenants will be joined by allies from Southside Together Organizing for Power, the Chicago Housing Initiative, the National Alliance of HUD Tenants, Fearless Leading by the Youth and others.

For more information, contact Haroon Garell 773-858-4806