CKO tenant wins—and gearing up for more
Alexus H. speaks at a rally outside her apartment at 6715-33 S. Paxton Ave. Read recent months’ coverage in Block Club, Tribe, the Sun-Times, the Hyde Park Herald, Block Club, and the March and January Crusader.
We want to share in-depth about some wins made possible by your support and our leaders, and a still bigger fight we are gearing up for. (Please donate to support this effort!)
As we’ve shared, Southside Together has been organizing with tenants in a portfolio of 30 buildings, most of them in South Shore. These buildings have some of the worst conditions in the city: crumbling walls, leaks, security issues, and more. The portfolio is owned by Lauren Lampert, Shai Wolkowicki, Scott Lurie, Michael Cinchinelli, and Mitchell Goltz. Until recently, the properties were managed by CKO, a shady and corrupt company that was recently shut down by its own investors.
For the past three months, organized by Southside Together, the tenants across these buildings have come together to fight for their rights.
Organizing timeline
April 10: Tenants met with Alderman Yancy, owners, and City Department of Buildings staff. The landlord agreed to make immediate repairs and to allow tenants to break their leases.
April 30: The City told two buildings’ tenants that they would need to move out due to dangerous conditions. They were told that they would each receive $1500, and that they needed to be out by May 14 in one building and May 28 in the other. In light of this, tenants met to determine their needs. They settled on demanding more money and more time to move.
This Monday, May 19: After negotiations with the City, the buildings’ court-appointed receiver (manager), and the buildings’ ownership, the tenants won $50,000 in direct relocation support—an unusually large sum of $2500 per household. Plus tenants won extension of their move-out dates to June 18 in one building and June 25 in the other.
This win didn’t come by accident. It came because the tenants organized a union. And there’s more to come.
Next challenges
We have reason to believe that more buildings in that portfolio will be foreclosed upon and/or vacated. This would mean a crisis for the neighborhood: It would mean the mass displacement of dozens of Black families in South Shore.
The union’s building leads met this week to update their organizing plan, including with sharpened demands of the City and a process to a supermajority of tenants to support the union by next month.
We will prepare the tenants for a meeting with the Mayor next week. The meeting will take place following a building tour in one of the properties. For now, we ask for your support by donating:
Thank you for sticking with us on this journey!