The Housing Authority of Cook County project to replace four townhomes at 504-14 South Blvd. with a 60-unit, five-story affordable housing development may soon run into delays – all because of one tenant.
HACC is working with the Cleveland-based firm of PIRHL Developers to build the South Boulevard Shores, which will have 30 one-bedroom units, 12 two-bedroom units and 18 three-bedroom units. The new building will span the existing townhomes site and the parking lot that Evanston sold to the housing authority last October. The original plan was to relocate the current townhome tenants by May 23.
During the April 11 meeting of the HACC Board of Commissioners, which was held at housing authority’s offices in downtown Chicago, development associate Tina Pourroy gave an update on the current construction projects. With South Boulevard Shores, she explained, the demolition can’t happen until tenants are relocated.
Pourroy said that while first two households are willing to move, the third tenant is “extremely difficult.”
“I’m working with [HACC attorney Jon Duncan] to figure out what to do with her, because she may hold us up,” Pourroy added.
“So, what is her concern?” asked board chair Wendy Walker Williams. “She loves her house and doesn’t want to move?”
“She’s special,” responded Pourroy.
At this point, Duncan warned Pourroy to be careful about sharing potentially sensitive tenant information at a public meeting.
Federal law provides protections for public housing tenants in this kind of situation. They can’t be removed involuntarily, and they have a right to either return to a new development or be relocated to another unit. Either way, the new unit has to have the same amenities as what they had before.
According to the project timeline shared during the meeting, HACC planned to start construction this September and finish by November 2025. The housing authority would open the waiting lists ahead of time, so tenants could move in by the start of 2026.
Pourroy told the board that she couldn’t speak to how the project timeline might change because she and Duncan were still reviewing HACC’s legal options.
The RoundTable confirmed that one unit is still occupied, but it was unable to get a comment from the tenant by deadline. Cheryl Lawrence, the executive director of Open Communities affordable housing advocacy group, said she spoke to the tenant in question and said that she didn’t want to move until she gets a guarantee that the new unit would have the same amenities as her current one.
Affordable housing in Evanston
Evanston is home to two HACC-owned senior public housing developments. Emerson Square mixed-income, privately owned development accepts HACC tenants through the Project-Based Voucher program. In other words, tenants get vouchers that are tied to this development. The tenants pay a portion of the rent and HACC picks up the rest. Evanston also has one of larger number of scattered-site housing in the north suburbs.
According to HACC data, as of February 2024, 544 Evanston households use its vouchers. Those vouchers can be used in any private rental unit that would accept them.
The South Boulevard is smaller in scale than other HACC housing developments. Each townhome is two stories tall and has a fenced-off rear yard. The now-HACC-owned parking lot is located directly to the east.
The South Boulevard Shores project will be similar to Emerson Square, except with no market-rate units. All units are meant to be affordable to tenants earning 80% of the Area Median Income. That number, which is adjusted every year, is based on average income for the entire Chicagoland region rather than Evanston specifically.
According to the HACC fact sheet, one-bedroom units would lease for $1,417 a month, two-bedroom units for $1,695 a month, and three-bedroom units for $1,956 a month.
Eighteen of those units will be reserved for tenants with HACC-issued Project-Based Vouchers. Voucher-holders would only need to pay the equivalent of 30% of their monthly income towards rent.
As previously reported by the RoundTable, PIRHL and HACC will seek Golden Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, which recognizes buildings’ environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.
The fact sheet indicates that the project will cost a little over $27.9 million, with the majority of the funding coming through a mix of county and state monies and private grants and loans.
Project timeline
Federal law offers several protections for public housing tenants whose units need to be renovated or demolished when the development converts to a project-based voucher model. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development handout, “no tenant may be permanently involuntarily displaced.”
“All residents must be offered the ability to remain in or, if temporary relocation is necessary, to return to the property,” states the handout.
The handout also indicates that any new unit, whether it’s on-site or off-site, “must have at least the number of bedrooms” and “provide the same main features” as their previous unit.
During the April 11 meeting, HACC executive director Danita Childers recalled that she ran into a similar situation when she was working for the Chicago Housing Authority. She warned that the process could drag on for a while and force the housing authority to adjust the plan.
“They had one tenant who didn’t want to move, so they had to change the whole plan to [renovate] around his unit,” Childers said. “Finally, they got him to move so they could get to his unit.”
Pourroy said their goal was to move the tenant to a unit that’s as close to her current townhouse as possible.
“Ideally, we would move her to a very similar unit in Evanston with the same general area, the same amount of bathrooms and the same yard space, and she would be happy, but she won’t even look at it,” she said.
Lawrence told the RoundTable that the current location had advantages the tenant didn’t want to give up.
“She’s got public transportation out there, and she’s got a lake out there, and she was like – she isn’t moving unless they find her [a unit] like that,” she said.
The townhomes are within walking distance of the Purple Line ‘L’ and the Pace Route 213.
I’m not surprised to see the architect/developer is out of Cleveland because this project looks like a Holiday Inn outside of Akron. Can we not get something a little more creative?
There’s a lot to be concerned about with this project… aside from the recalcitrant tenant who won’t move. It’s my understanding that the size of the footprint of this large development and the sandy soil composition beneath it might undermine its foundation and possibly other structures too.
Also very troubling to me, is that the truly amazing Reba Place Development Corporation was passed selecting the Cleveland-based firm PIRHL Developers. Time and again, our Civic Development managers don’t give adequate consideration to Evanston based organizations who have “skin-in-the-game”… Reba has been engaged in providing exceptional property management in Evanston for 30 years… This is their Mission Statement:
“To develop safe, decent, and affordable housing that demonstrates how the diverse racial and cultural groups in Southeast Evanston can thrive together.
To promote and cultivate a neighborly environment for those who wish to raise their families in peace.
To sponsor and support a range of affordable housing options-including modestly priced rental units, housing coops, and affordable condominiums.”
I hope this community will make better decisions in the future!
Respectfully submitted, Brian G. Becharas
Correction: the quotes attributed to me are inaccurate. I indicated that I had not been in contact with “the” tenant or any tenant in quite a while and did not know how many tenants were in the buildings owned by HACC. I indicated that I believed the HUD rule was that when they displaced people out of their homes (many were there for decades) that an equivalent unit must be offered to the tenant. I listed the amenities of the area and location of these buildings. Most of us in Evanston want much more affordable housing, but when the most vulnerable in our community are displaced through no fault of their own, they must be made whole.
Renters who qualify “only have to pay 30% of their monthly income toward rent”? That does not seem affordable by any reasonable measure.
Truly it does not, but that measure is the technical definition of “affordable.”