The Cook County Treasurer’s Office is facing a class action lawsuit accusing it of discriminating against Black and Latino homeowners in the way it acquires and disposes of properties whose owners are delinquent on taxes.

Michael Bell and Michelle Kidd are the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Dec. 15 in federal court in Chicago. They are joined in the action by the Southwest Organizing Project and Palenque LSNA, formerly the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, both nonprofit organizations. 

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Local experiments show there are innovative ways to create housing stability in Chicago, but we need more allies in our struggle for housing justice, so this is an invitation to stand in solidarity with us. Violence, crime and population loss are the byproducts of harmful investment and speculative disinvestment and they hurt us all, not just targeted and vulnerable populations.

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With multi-unit dwellings giving way to single-unit homes, Logan Square leaders pushed for measures to keep the neighborhood’s Latino population in place.

Right next to the California stop on Chicago’s Blue Line, one-bedroom apartments in a new luxury building start north of $2,000 a month. Recently built single-family homes on adjacent streets frequently go for $1 million or more. Coffee shops and craft breweries have become neighborhood staples. 

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“We know these property tax increases are due to demolitions, to new construction and to speculation in the housing market, which for some reason increases the value of land when White people deem a neighborhood is desirable,” Diaz said.

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For the 10th straight year, the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance gathered Chicagoans Saturday morning to demonstrate against vacant buildings and a lack of affordable housing in the Lathrop Homes development on the North Side.

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Dia de los Muertos altars, or ofrendas, are created in memory of those who have died, and invite the spirit of the deceased to visit, with bright decorations, flowers, food and drink. Rios-Sierra said she was inspired to create a community altar to cyclists because of the surge in people on foot or bicycle killed by drivers since the pandemic. 'This year I was inspired by the work Palenque did with [the equitable transit-oriented development think tank] Elevate Chicago that had a lot to do with equitable development and walkability of our neighborhoods,' she said. 'I did a little research and realized there’s a whole database on bicyclist and pedestrian deaths. I thought that was so sad. There were a lot more deaths during the pandemic. The number of people killed on the streets was higher. I thought it was time to create a space to honor those people who had been lost.'

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Advocates and elected officials say they believe they have a secret weapon: Small-time Latino two- and three-flat owners who can be persuaded to hold on to their properties and keep them affordable for working-class families, rather than cashing in on the real estate boom or being priced out of their own neighborhood.

A coalition of advocates is even asking some of these “mom and pop” landlords fearful of losing their property to skyrocketing taxes to sell their property to a community land trust, preserving affordable housing for working-class residents.

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AVONDALE — As the city-led redevelopment of Avondale’s Belmont Triangle gains momentum, the local alderperson said he backs community demands to bring more affordable housing to the site to fight gentrification-fueled displacement.

Social justice organization Palenque LSNA — formerly the Logan Square Neighborhood Association — hosted a rally Monday, initially meant to push Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th) to back an all-affordable housing model for the Belmont Triangle project. The alderperson previously agreed to support a plan with 20 percent of the housing being affordable, organizers said.

But Reboyras joined the demonstration to endorse the group’s demands and said he would fight for a much larger share of low-cost units to keep longtime residents in the neighborhood.

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LOGAN SQUARE — Grisel and Jonathan Lapham wanted to buy their first home in Logan Square, but the gentrifying neighborhood with skyrocketing housing prices felt out of reach, they said.

Now, thanks to a new community land trust formed by a coalition of community groups and backed by city officials, the Laphams are Logan Square homeowners. The couple recently bought a three-bedroom ranch near The 606’s Bloomingdale Trail and Central Park Avenue.

“We never would’ve imagined it would be possible to purchase a home in this neighborhood, let alone a single-family home,” Jonathan Lapham said. “We were always very superstitious, we never felt like it was going to happen, but the day we felt it would … it was honestly like a miracle.”

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On March 17, Beltran’s landlord served her a notice, saying she had five days to come up with five months’ rent or face the immediate termination of her lease. Such five-day notices are one of the first steps in the eviction process, after which landlords can proceed with an eviction suit.

Beltran is active in Palenque LSNA, a community organization serving Logan Square that provided Injustice Watch with copies of the landlord’s and sheriff’s notices that she received. Beltran and Palenque LSNA said that, because of broken mailboxes in the apartment, she did not receive notice of her court dates or have an opportunity to defend herself. After Beltran moved out to avoid eviction by the sheriff, Palenque LSNA launched a fundraiser to help her secure a new apartment.

From January 2009 to December 2019, nearly 23,000 households were taken to eviction court annually in Chicago, according to an eviction tracker created by the Chicago nonprofit Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing (LCBH). On average, 60% of those cases ended in eviction orders.

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A sweeping housing effort officials say will help fight segregation, boost affordable housing on the South and West sides and slow displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods was approved by City Council Wednesday.

The “Connected Communities” ordinance includes provisions aimed at creating more affordable housing near mass transit, getting affordable developments in front of City Council faster, limiting where multi-unit buildings can replace single-family homes and more.

[…]

Traolach O’Sullivan, a housing organizer with Logan Square-based organization Palenque LSNA, said Logan Square has benefitted from the development pilot program, and this ordinance ensures other communities in need, particularly those on the South and West Sides, get that same opportunity.

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Community leaders are urging the city to give neighbors more time to weigh in on plans to redevelop Avondale’s Belmont Triangle and ensure what’s built at the site doesn’t accelerate rapid gentrification in the area.

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City officials said they will invite developers to submit proposals for the 4-acre site this summer using community input, but neighborhood leaders said residents have had little opportunity to give feedback. Many who were surveyed did not know about the redevelopment or recent community meetings providing more information, organizers said.

“This community needs time to absorb and understand the Belmont Triangle [project] as this will have a direct impact on the neighborhood,” Palenque LSNA housing organizer Juanairis Castaneda said at a news conference in front of the lot last week.

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“Logan Square has been suffering for a long time through the impacts of displacement. And that displacement has only been exacerbated by the health crisis we’ve been living through with COVID-19,” Diaz said. “And despite the economic downturn of COVID-19, rents have only gone up and more competition for housing is happening in our neighborhood.”

Diaz said for Latinx families, which tend to be larger and need more bedrooms, the search for affordable rentals is especially tough.

“It’s really difficult for families, particularly families who have kids in schools, when their rents are raised overnight by $500-$600. And when they look for new apartments to move into, it’s impossible to find anything below $1,500, $1,600, and those units that we do find are often one bedrooms or studios that can’t fit the average Latinx family,” Diaz said. “So what’s really special about the Lucy Gonzales Parsons Apartments … is that these are family-sized units. So not only are they affordable, but they can actually fit the average Latinx family and this is a monument to racial equity into a new direction that our community is taking. So we’re very proud of the accomplishment.”

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LOGAN SQUARE — Longtime community organization Logan Square Neighborhood Association has a new name the group’s leaders hope reflects their commitment to “liberation for all.”

After 60 years of being known as Logan Square Neighborhood Association, the organization is now Palenque LSNA. The name change took effect in April.

Palenques — sometimes called quilombos or maroon communities — are settlements formed throughout the Americas by Africans and their descendants who escaped slavery, perhaps as far back as the early 1500s. Those formerly enslaved people often mixed with Indigenous people to establish their own communities, survive on their own and fight off attacks from European colonists.

The organization’s leaders said they chose the word “palenque” because the settlements have a deep history of bringing Latinx and Black people together.

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Housing advocates in Logan Square are calling on the city to make permanent a program that penalizes developers for demolishing residential homes along the 606 trail.

“As much progress as we made as a community, it’s still important that we push our elected officials to do what’s right for you and for them to keep the promises they made to you,” said Dave Soto, an equitable development fellow with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. “This means extending the 606 demolition ordinance which has protected working-class families by hitting developers where it hurts — their wallet.”

About three dozen people stood outside the Logan Square Neighborhood Association on Monday with signs decrying how gentrification has affected the community and calling on the City Council to extend the ordinance indefinitely.

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Elected leaders and community organizers want the state to invest millions in federal funding toward affordable housing in the Logan Square area, while alderpeople try to maintain high fees for developers who tear down homes along The 606’s Bloomingdale Trail.

Members of Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Alds. Daniel La Spata (1st) and Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), and State Reps. Delia Ramirez and Will Guzzardi hosted a press conference Monday outside of Logan Square Neighborhood Association office at 2840 N. Milwaukee Ave.

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Making demolitions more expensive has been a priority for the Logan Square Neighborhood Association since at least 2015, when teenage organizers held a rally demanding city-backed demolition fees. The group’s persistence has paid off, according to Christian Diaz, Logan Square Neighborhood Association’s Director of Housing. Diaz said beneath the data, “the way the neighborhood feels when you’re walking in that area shows that this policy has been successful.”

“It’s a relief that our built environment and our history aren’t being completely destroyed, and that we have a fighting chance at preserving the diversity of this community,” Diaz said. “The results aren’t a surprise to stakeholders on the ground, because it’s just common sense that if you make it less profitable to do predatory development that harms people and the environment, developers are going to change their priorities.”

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"We love him dearly and we will take care of him; his mother knows we will," she said.

In the days since, she has had some help from the Logan Square community in keeping her promise.

Neighbors, other Guatemalan immigrants in the Chicago area and teachers at Avondale-Logandale Elementary School, which the boy has attended since kindergarten, raised money to pay for funeral expenses and for Junior's care.

Claudia Avila, the vice principal at the school, started a GoFundMe page that raised more than $7,000. Pablo Pineda, owner of Latin Patio, hosted a fundraising dinner, and the not-for-profit community organization Logan Square Neighborhood Association also rallied in support.

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Outside of the school Tuesday morning, Logan Square Neighborhood Association leaders rallied in support of parents, students and other members of the school community who have been harmed by the abuse and cover up.

Problems at the school stem back to 2013, when CPS replaced Ames Middle School with Marine Leadership Academy over the objections of many in the community, Logan Square Neighborhood Association leaders said.

“The community said ‘no’ over and over again … And CPS moved forward anyway,” said Juliet De Jesus Alejandre, executive director of Logan Square Neighborhood Association. “And so this is an example, again, of communities having wisdom, families have wisdom about what safety means, and CPS … missing the opportunity to partner.”

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“There is a long back and forth of us waiting for the latest news to see if we are able to stay in the U.S. or not,” Reyes said. “We are tired of it. Just because we are DACA recipients does not mean we have stability. There are a lot of limitations and risks to do with identification, green cards and not being able to travel outside the U.S.” Reyes runs a club called “Students without Borders” at Schurz High School in Chicago’s Irving Park neighborhood and said she joined the protest because many students and other people she sees regularly are undocumented or have been impacted by challenging immigration policies. There are at least 600,000 undocumented kindergarten through 12th grade students living in the United States today, according to a FWD.us estimate.

“We need citizenship,” Reyes said. “This is home. We build families here.”

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