CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Residents stood on the sidewalk in front of Uptown’s Ella Flagg Young Apartments on the 4600 block of North Sheridan Avenue and aired their complaints.
Rats, mice, bugs; one washer and one dryer in a building with more than 200 units; problems with the elevators, and cold apartments.
Obrey Jones said he's lived at the public housing high-rise for seniors for more than 20 years, and he's never seen things so bad.
“Everybody's going to grow old one day and be a senior, and they wouldn't like to be treated that way,” he said.
Amanda Ehrenford has lived in the building for 25 years. She said the mice and rat issue is “not acceptable.”
“It's unsanitary and dangerous,” said Ehrenford.
A third resident, William Paul Young, said he killed a rat in his apartment.
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“It came after me, and I got it.” he said. "If I hadn't got it, it would have got me — and I wasn't about to let that happen."
In a statement to WBBM, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) said it “has been, and continues to be, responsive to the concerns of residents at Ella Flagg Apartments and across our properties.”
“We are in the process of replacing laundry units in many of our senior buildings with commercial-grade appliances that are better able to withstand the volume of usage of a multi-family building,” a spokesperson wrote. “Temporary units have been delivered to Ella Flagg Apartments this week, and the permanent appliances will be installed in the next few weeks.”
The agency said its private property managers interact regularly with all residents to ensure that their complaints are addressed.
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