Tenants In 41-Unit Single Room Occupancy Building Ignore Landlord's Notice To Pack Their Bags & Vacate Premises As Chicago-Area Renters' Advocates Gear Up For Battle

In the Bridgeport section of Chicago, Illinois, DNAInfo (Chicago) reports:

• A real estate company in charge of an Archer Avenue SRO in foreclosure is trying to evict the tenants living there, but the way it's doing it might be against the law, according to city officials.
  
  JCF Real Estate, the management company running the 41-room building at 3022 S. Archer Ave., ordered tenants to move out by the end of the day Monday. As of Tuesday night, the complex remained packed with dozens of residents worried they’ll soon be homeless.
  
  But a group of rights activists and the city's Buildings Department have vowed to stand up for them in a fight to keep roofs over their heads.
  
  "The city takes SRO tenants’ rights very seriously," said Mimi Simon, a spokeswoman with with Buildings Department, now working with agencies like the Metropolitan Tenants Organization and Lawyers Committee for Better Housing(1) to "ensure the tenants’ rights are protected from any unlawful evictions."
  
  The law
  
  The city has a SRO Preservation Ordinance that protects tenants from wrongful evictions from single-room occupancy buildings.
  
  The law requires owners to give six months’ notice when they plan to sell a building — enough time to allow the city to find a developer to take over operations.
  
  The ordinance also calls for the owner to pay displaced long-term residents a one-time “relocation” fee that’s the equivalent of three months’ rent, or three times the amount of rent paid over the previous 30 days.
  
  It's assistance the tenants at 3022 S. Archer Ave. need.

For more, see Bridgeport SRO Foreclosure: Residents Are Staying Put.

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(1) The Metropolitan Tenants Organization is a Chicago, Illinois membership organization made up of tenants, tenant organizations, community members and groups whose mission is to educate, organize and empower tenants to have a voice in the decisions that affect the affordability and availability of decent and safe housing, according to their website.

The Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing (LCBH) is a non-profit law firm that focuses solely on low and moderate income renters in the Chicago, Illinois private housing market. LCBH will provide free legal and supportive services to assist truly disadvantaged renters, prevent wrongful eviction, and fight sub-standard living conditions, according to their website.