Housing Crisis In Rantoul and Champaign

The employment and housing crisis has impacted central Illinois workers and there is an urgent need for working class solidarity based on two different situations.

Autumn Glen, an apartment complex in Rantoul, Illinois made news in March when the municipally owned electric company cut power to a number of apartments for non-payment of bills. As community activists mobilized to aid the tenants, it was discovered that many tenants paid utilities as an extra fee in their rent. However, the landlord was not using the money to pay the bills. Despite these tenants dutifully paying their rent, the City threatened eviction within 36 hours originally. The City quickly extended the deadline to three days after receiving notice that the landlord never notified the tenants about the potential evictions. After being confronted with applicable state law that required a 10-day notice for potential eviction, the City was successfully pressured by concerned citizens to work out an agreement to receive payment from the landlord (a company of investors located in California) and keep many residents in their homes.

On May 13, residents and citizens of Rantoul and the surrounding communities saw a headline in the local paper – “Large apartment complex likely to close its doors after the landlord has gotten behind in paying gas bills and the gas services were turned off. According to the article:

“...Autumn Glen Property Manager Terry Flick said he doesn’t know how far Autumn Glen owner Evergreen Property Management is behind in payments to Nicor. He said Evergreen officials are not good at communicating with him…Garbage is piling up at the apartment complex due to non-payment of bills to the garbage hauler.”

The bank that holds the mortgage on the Autumn Glen property foreclosed on the loan in March. While some residents have moved out and found other affordable places to live, the article continues:

“Other tenants, however, might have a problem if they have a questionable history, financially or otherwise, and if landlords check background.”

Many residents have paid their rent (which included the utilities for gas) regularly and on time. However, some residents have had difficulty paying their bills due to the economic problems of Rantoul that appeared long before the latest capitalist crisis. The 70 families that currently reside in Autumn Glen face a difficult situation to be able to find housing, especially in a community that is already economically depressed since the closure of Chanute Air Force Base in the early 1990’s. The City of Rantoul has made a list of public services that will be available to the 70 families but that will likely fall short of the needs for the community.

As the Rantoul Press elaborated: “Having paid their bills on time is what has upset many residents. They question who is to blame for the utility bills not being paid.” The party to blame for the utility bills not being paid is not workers who struggle to pay their bills on working class wages but lies squarely on the landlord, Evergreen Property Management, and their inability to use the collected rent for its predetermined purpose. It is fundamentally unjust to have workers and their young children go through the upheaval of finding new, and hopefully permanent, housing because the capitalist owners chose not to pay the bills for which they received funds.

However, the threat of evictions is not only within the limits of Rantoul. In north Champaign, on the outskirts of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a hotel/apartment complex recently had its power cut by AmerenIP because the owner was behind over $44,000 in power bills.

Gateway Studios, a former Holiday Inn that became a series of single room apartments that specialized in low-income week-to-week and month-to-month renting, had their electricity shut off on May 13. The residents were given notice that the power would be cut during a meeting with Gateway Studios management. The City of Champaign did not oppose the very limited time that these low-income families would have to find new housing, given the limited opportunities for affordable housing that fit their income level. The reason the City did not oppose Ameren’s conclusion was that they agreed Ameren was not bound by state law that requires tenants of an apartment to be given 10 days notice before power can be shut off. As an AmerenIP spokesperson said: “Gateway is not an apartment complex, it is a hotel, and we have complied with the law as it pertains to hotels.”

Champaign had long known about the problems at Gateway.  There were two floods in 2008 that significantly damaged portions of the first floor, but residents continued to come because they lacked any other housing opportunities. During the winter, the pipes froze as well. Overall, there has been an approximated $1.5 million in damage to Gateway Studios within the last year while the owner and City did little to fix the problems.

100 families living at Gateway were notified with mere days to find new housing. Some members of the Champaign City Council were on site giving residents phone numbers of other apartment complexes, hotels and social services that could be of assistance. Calls to some of the numbers showed that the facilities were already full and the social services would only provide temporary assistance, not permanent housing. The social services in Champaign County (which includes Rantoul and Champaign) have been stretched significantly and are being leaned upon even more as the economic crisis continues unabated. Giving these people social assistance is a good start, but it does not assist them in giving people safe, affordable and permanent housing.

In order to ensure that this never happens again, about 40 concerned citizens from Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice and the ISO appeared at the City of Champaign’s study session on May 12. Although public comment does not usually take place at study sessions, the activists hoped that the emergency situation about Gateway would influence the Council.

When the Mayor was asked to allow some Gateway residents to speak about how they have not found permanent housing and need further City assistance, Mayor Jerry Schweighart declared to the audience: “I don’t care! I told you earlier how this would be played.” The Mayor continued saying that they could not put their study session on hold for the housing emergency.

The activists walked out of the meeting in anger to discuss a gameplan outside. As activists left, one shouted “Democracy, Not Bureaucracy!” and others commented “People are losing their houses now. Why wait?”

Outside the City Building, activists developed different strategies for how to keep summary evictions from happening again both by building up community safeguards as well as working with local authorities.  During the discussion many cogent points were made as one veteran resident stated “If the city had a fire, would the City wait a week because they had a study session?”

To continue their presence, the activists re-entered the meeting and sat conspicuously in the front row showing the City that we would not be bullied. As the meeting concluded, we requested time to speak with the City Council members. Mayor Schweighart quickly made an exit and refused to speak with us.

Other City Councilpersons spoke with the activists. When asked whom people should contact if another crisis such as Gateway happened, the Councilpersons had no answers. Although open to speak, one Councilperson continually offered Devil’s advocate positions for every suggestion that would keep these capitalist assaults from being inflicted on working families. This Councilperson advocated very poor examples about issues such as adequate notice for removal of tenants: “It’s like a sinking ship. If you tell people the ship is sinking, it is going to sink faster.” Activists responded “If you give everybody enough time to get off the ship, at least there will be no dead or injured when the ship finally sinks.”

The Councilpersons also had issues with our militant demands at the start of the meeting, referencing that they already had a planned agenda. To end the evening, the same Councilperson attempted to equate people angry about snow removal to the removal of families from their homes. He asked how we would feel if an “angry mob” concerned that snow was not plowed out of their cul de sac attempted to hijack our discussion topic. His analogy was roundly and quickly shown to be absolutely ridiculous. One activist told him “Snow removal and families potentially being homeless were not in the same ballpark or even the same sport.” Another activist suggested: that they would have no problem if angry snow removal supporters hijacked the meeting if families were out in the snow hungry and without any housing options available to them.

As the economic crisis continues to hit working class families very significantly, it is very important to work with our communities to develop workable solutions that keep people in their homes. As another activist present stated: “Our working class brothers and sisters can attempt to seek and hold jobs.  They can attempt to raise and provide for their families.  They can do everything expected of them, and still their wellbeing as well as that of their loved ones is at the mercy of a system that puts profit and property before human need.”