City expedites inspections for rental properties with code violations

The city’s building services department has begun accelerating its routine inspection schedule for rental properties cited for building code violations, a policy change that follows the evacuation of tenants last May from the 2014, 2018 and 2024 Wesley Ave apartment buildings. about deteriorating conditions.

The policy change was announced Thursday evening during a special meeting of the Housing and Community Development Committee, where members in June called for discussing the property maintenance program in light of lingering questions about how the Wesley buildings had become dangerous. The city ordered the evacuation of all three buildings in May due to severe deterioration of the metal stairs and concrete platforms that serve as the only entrance and exit for the units, and all tenants have since moved into new rental housing provided by the city are subsidized. for at least one year.

Andrew San Roman, manager of the city’s building and development services, told the committee that Evanston has five full-time property maintenance inspectors and said staffers are “establishing another good, solid routine rental inspection program.” This starts with the frequency of inspections, which previously occurred every five years for all registered rental properties, regardless of how many code violations had been found (and corrected) in the past.

Sarah Flax (right), the city’s community development director, speaks about the apartment buildings on Wesley Ave. Thursday evening. from 2014, 2018 and 2024 during a meeting on housing and community development. At left, Councilman Juan Geracaris (Ward 9) and Andrew San Roman, the city’s construction and development services manager, listen. Credit: Alex Harrison

The new policy, San Roman said, is to group properties into three schedules based on the number of code violations found during the last routine inspection:

Buildings with no code violations will be re-inspected in five years, as in the previous system.
Those with one to seven violations will undergo another routine inspection within three years.
Those with eight or more violations, or who had an insect or pest infestation, will be reinspected within a year.

San Roman said code violations must still be corrected and confirmed by a follow-up inspection within two months, and complaint-based inspections will still be conducted as needed. He also added that the new scheme does not exempt property owners from carrying out regular maintenance work in the meantime.

“The city’s role is to enforce property maintenance codes, and conducting regular rental inspections helps with that,” San Roman said. “But whether or not an inspection takes place does not absolve the property owner of the need to keep their property in a safe condition.”

No hazard found in similar buildings

San Roman’s updates were presented following an overview of the history of the Wesley Apartments and the city’s involvement in their inspections and evacuation by Sarah Flax, the city’s community development director. One of the buildings had to be evacuated early due to the visible failure of a steel channel supporting a concrete platform, and Flax said the dangerous condition of the exterior was evident even as people left the units.

Next to Wesley Ave. In 2018, a temporary staircase was installed, providing access to the walkway on the third floor. The stairs were installed so that former tenants could return and collect their belongings after the eviction on May 9. Credit: Alex Harrison

“Our first responders, including people from our fire department who helped some residents out of the buildings … did not feel comfortable at all on those stairs and platforms,” Flax said. “Personally, I would much rather be conservative and not take a risk when we have tenants who are at risk if a collapse happens.”

Since all three buildings were emptied and boarded up in May, all tenants have moved into new apartments with city rent subsidies for at least a year, with a second year available for households earning 80% or less than the area median income . All households were moved to apartments in Evanston except one, who chose to move to Chicago to fulfill a residency requirement HUD-VASH voucher from the Chicago Housing Authority.

California style walk-ups

City staff also conducted assessments and inspections of buildings that share the “California” style of the Wesley buildings, primarily using exterior stairways and platforms as the primary or sole means of entering and exiting the units.

San Roman said that across the city, none of the other California-style buildings experienced conditions “on the level of what happened at Wesley,” and assured residents of those buildings that they are not inherently at risk of a similar hazard .

“I don’t want anyone who lives in these types of buildings to live in fear and think that their building is automatically going to be dangerous because it’s built that way,” San Roman said. “But that requires ongoing maintenance, as with any building, and that is the responsibility of the property owner.”

However, the fate of the Wesley buildings remains uncertain, as do many of its former tenants sue the property ownerEvanston Housing Coalition. The city is not a party to the lawsuit and staff has not had an update on it, but online records from the Cook County Circuit Court clerk say an amended complaint was filed July 18 and the next hearing is scheduled for December . 9.