A Letter to City of Evanston Elected Officials, Staff, and its Residents Regarding 2014, 2018, and 2024 Wesley Avenue

Background on Issue:

On February 13, 2024, Council Member Bobby Burns and City of Evanston staff brought the residents of 2014, 2018, and 2024 Wesley Avenue together to inform them that they needed to move because, according to an official letter signed by City Manager Luke Stowe, “property owners cannot ensure tenant safety while the units are occupied.” This led tenants to believe there would be a plan in place to repair the buildings. The tenants of the Wesley buildings deserve secure, just and permanent housing.

City Manager Stowe made no such promise to the tenants. Instead, he warned the tenants of a “potential of permanent relocation,” an assertion which gives no information on what the City’s next steps will be to support these residents. This process also included having police officers present to enforce this evacuation. The City’s attempts to sweeten the deal with short-term relocation help, using phrases like “going above and beyond legal obligations,” stops short of any acknowledgement that landlord neglect and woefully insufficient City oversight caused these problems. Stopping short of meeting the very real needs tenants have for the absurd reason that the City does not want to “provide too much support as to set a precedent,” has resulted in tenants feeling angry, scared, and betrayed. This is not a way for any local government to treat its residents.

Wesley tenants have been reluctant to move because they want to know what their future housing will be, especially since they have such low incomes (many of them fixed, as retirees). It should be considered unacceptable that short term rental subsidies will be sustainable solutions to address these displacements. A right to return is an explicit demand of theirs. It is important that the City of Evanston begin conversations, centered around the displaced tenants, to determine the best course of action for the future of 2014, 2018, and 2024 Wesley Avenue. Although we understand the City does not own the property directly, it is expected that the City of Evanston will work with the property owner and tenants to reach a viable solution.

Proposed Solutions:

The City must express a clear, unequivocal commitment to restore the Wesley tenants to the safe housing they deserve, in their neighborhood and at a rent they can afford as speedily as possible. Nothing less is acceptable or just.

Given that the property owner is the Evanston Housing Coalition, a small nonprofit organization, it would be appropriate to collaborate on what experts in the code enforcement field are calling “code compliance” – tantamount to a multisector approach to ensuring the owner makes the necessary repairs with cooperation of the residents, neighbors, community groups, financial entities, and the City itself playing a role in restoring and preserving the properties for the benefit of residents we value.
Rehabbing 2014, 2018, and 2024 Wesley Avenue, Evanston would keep 24 affordable units, giving the original 16 tenants the right to return while offering more housing to those in need. It is an exponentially less expensive option for affordable housing than new construction while being environmentally friendly, and it should always be the first consideration. As the Chicago-based The Preservation Compact indicates, “Preservation is cost efficient and sustainable – new construction can cost more than $300,000 per unit, while apartments in the private market can be rehabbed and preserved for under $60,000 per unit. New construction requires all new materials, while preservation is environmentally sustainable and strengthens the solid rental stock that already anchors Chicago and Cook County.”
Alternatively, a newer, higher capacity affordable housing development could replace the existing structures creating additional units to a municipality desperately in need of more while still establishing a right to return. Steps must be taken to ensure units are truly affordable for individuals and families who need it most (ie rental rates based on 30% income of each applicant, not AMI).
A combination of a rehab and rebuild is possible as well. Units could be added to the rehabbed 2014, 2018, and 2024 Wesley Avenue apartments, thereby increasing the number of tenants while providing more rental stability and increasing funds for maintenance and repairs.

Each proposal has associated benefits and costs; however, they showcase a clear commitment to Evanston’s most valuable asset: the people who call Wesley home. So far the city appears implacably opposed to a rehab, on the grounds that the costs would be more than the value of the property, and that rehab cost would be better spent on building new affordable housing. Affordable housing should be considered as a precious resource: Once you get rid of it, it is gone forever, along with the living beings that depend on it. The market in Evanston is impossibly high-end and there are few to no alternative permanent housing options for the Wesley residents. There is no second chance in a private market in which prices will always rise at a higher rate than incomes.

Essential Next Steps:

Cost estimates must be drawn up for each proposal to understand the best direction for these tenant’s homes. Although the City of Evanston is not the property owner, it is their responsibility to ensure a safe living environment throughout Evanston.
If the city concludes that rebuilding is in the best interest of the tenants, then it must commit to housing the tenants in quality housing, and continuing to pay their rent and transportation costs for as long as the rebuild takes, not limited to 1-2 years.
It must also take steps to ensure that the Wesley tenants are given first choice in moving into any new property, and that they are not forced to pay a significantly higher rent than they paid before. This could be achieved by working with EHC to donate the property to Community Partners for Affordable Housing to make it a land trust; it could also be accomplished by committing to subsidizing rent for all the families for at least 10 years.
If the City feels that EHC, and possibly HODC, share the blame, restitution should be sought from those organizations. The City of Evanston is obligated to repair the damage it has done to tenants’ lives, and we are obligated as neighbors and community members to help advocate with those in need.

Residents need the assurance that their move will be temporary and part of a transparent, collectively developed plan. But right now, seniors with disabilities and families with children, all Black and having experienced a lifetime of discrimination, are stressed and traumatized because they must move from their community of choice over years and in some cases, generations.

Closing Remarks:

The City of Evanston must prioritize the needs of people above all. Anything short of a comprehensive restorative justice plan is a disaster for every party, most especially the families who live in the buildings – and secondarily, family members who depend on them living close by, their employers, their schools, and their neighbors. Decisions about land and real property must have the voices and vision of the people in all their diversity in mind. The right thing for the City to do is to articulate an unambiguous commitment to the Wesley renters that not only is their physical safety a priority, but also prioritizes their right to live their lives and preserve their relationships with one another and the greater community.

Mayor Biss said in his State of the City address, “what I see as most necessary is for us to break out of this prison of a system that makes bold action so very difficult.” Creating affordable housing is expensive with high barriers to entry. We have the opportunity to break out of a system and take bold action by showing Illinois and the entire nation we are committed to righting the wrongs these tenants faced while creating 24 or more units in a community facing a housing shortage. Later in his address, Mayor Biss highlighted the idea of caring about our neighborhoods but “it shouldn’t be about the building, it’s really about the people in those neighborhoods that matter.” Like Little Beans Cafe, the 2014, 2018, and 2024 Wesley apartment buildings are a community center; tenants have lived there for generations, children learn and play with their neighbors, and they keep each other safe. The City of Evanston must invest in these properties not just for the tangible benefits of maintaining or increasing the amount of affordable units in our city, but because the people in these neighborhoods exemplify what the future of Evanston ought to be.

Let’s truly be bold, Evanston. 24 or more and justice for the tenants of 2014, 2018, and 2024 Wesley Avenue.