South Shore residents say their homes deteriorated under an absentee landlord, then they were hit with a sudden rent hike after the building was sold without notice—sparking organizing for stronger housing protections near the Obama Presidential Center.
The first thing Stevie Early noticed was the quiet collapse of her home.
Her family had told their South Shore landlord the building was “being destroyed.” They said the place that once felt “clean. safe” and “well taken care of” fell into disrepair—mildew and mold in the hallways. roaches and other insects throughout the building. appliances breaking down. and a front gate that no longer locked.
“What was happening to my home?” the 24-year-old said.
For years, her family said their grievances to the landlord and maintenance went nowhere. Then, as they were still trying to figure out what to do, the Obama Center project moved forward—groundbreaking came, and with it, a response. Early said it didn’t come from anyone familiar.
“It was from someone I never met, someone that I had never heard of,” she said. “They sent us a text saying, ‘I am your new landlord.’ That was how me and my family had found out that our building had been sold with no notice.”
Her family believed the sale could bring a chance to fix what they had been documenting: the mold, the infestations, the broken appliances. Instead, Early said the new owner did not respond with apologies or promises of maintenance.
“Actually, they sent us a new lease. A new lease asking for $2,450 to stay,” she said.
The new rent price for her family’s three-bedroom apartment arrived in June 2023. Early said. and it was an increase of a few hundred dollars. Her family negotiated for a longer stay, but they were eventually priced out and moved to North Park. Still, Early said she is now moving back to South Shore.
Her experience is one of many that came up Saturday at a meeting tied to housing protections for neighborhoods affected by the Obama Presidential Center. The Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition held the gathering at Bryn Mawr Community Church in South Shore. where residents shared stories and said they want to remain in the communities surrounding the center.
Early said she began organizing with housing advocacy organizations on the South Side because of what happened to her family. Through that work, she said she has met many people with similar experiences.
The Obama Center opened June 18. Its leaders have long promoted the tourism benefits the project would bring to the South Side. Housing advocates and residents at Saturday’s meeting said those benefits have come wrapped in a harsher reality: property values rising. rents climbing. and long-time residents being pushed out.
“Some media outlets tried to frame us as being against the Obama Center,” coalition member Paru Brown said at the meeting. “Our response was simple: We’re not against the Obama Presidential Center. We’re for protecting the people who already call this community home.”
The coalition has pushed the City Council for protections it argues are necessary to prevent displacement. It urged passage of the Jackson Park Housing Pilot Ordinance last year and the Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance in 2020—both aimed at shielding South Side residents from rent increases and displacement tied to the Obama Center project.
Advocates described both ordinances as wins, but they said they remain cautious. Implementation, they argue, has not gone far enough. The demand most often raised: rent control, which would require action at the state level.
“Without rent control, this is going to be a forever battle,” Early said. “We’re always going to be fighting and fighting and fighting for people’s rents to go back down. fighting for property taxes to go back down. so I think [we need] that control. limiting the percent that something can grow. [Rent increases] shouldn’t happen just because a building is bought. just because a beach is better to go [to] or just because a quantum center is going down the street.”.
Obama Presidential Center South Shore Stevie Early housing protections rent control Jackson Park Housing Pilot Ordinance Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance displacement community organizing
So they just got kicked out after the rent went up? That’s messed up.
Absentee landlord plus a surprise new lease… sounds like the system’s working exactly how it shouldn’t. If the Obama Center is supposed to help the area, why are they raising rents on people already living there?
Wait Obama Center opens and then people get displaced? I thought it was like jobs and stuff. But also like landlords always do this, they probably fixed the building and then the mold was fake? idk the article makes it sound one way.
I don’t get why they didn’t just force repairs if it was mold and roaches. Like can’t the city step in or something? $2,450 for a 3-bedroom is wild though, and the text about being the new landlord with no notice is crazy. Also feels like they’re using the Obama Center as an excuse for everything, but maybe that’s just how it always happens when property gets sold.