Tenants of the newly unionized 7500 South Shore building, that federal agents raided in September, called an emergency press conference on December 1 after receiving a court order to vacate the building by Friday, December 12.
On September 30, federal agents descended on the building in a late-night raid, detaining families and children. Subsequent reporting exposed the building’s substandard conditions such as broken elevators, standing water, mold, and chronic code violations that tenants had been reporting for years. The incident galvanized residents to organize, eventually forming a union to demand transparency from the court-appointed receiver, Friedman Communities, and accountability from city officials.
Travaris Ivy, a resident since 2023, had spent the night with relatives over Thanksgiving. The next day, he “just happened to walk in and see a note posted up on the wall saying that we have to get the hell out of the building.”
“It’s freezing. It’s so cold; there is no heat in the building.” — Gant
On November 20, Wells Fargo Bank filed an emergency motion to set and enforce the December 12 vacate date, which was granted by Judge Debra A. Seaton on November 24. Two days later, tenants received a notice to vacate on or before December 12, giving residents only sixteen days to move out. Darren Hightower, who has lived in the building for two years, said that the receiver, Friedman Communities, “sent someone over to the building to hand out these papers to random people and hung one up in the halls.”
Infiniti Gant, an organizer with Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), said Judge Seaton’s decision was not announced or made public. While the tenants held a press conference announcing they formed a union last Monday, “they were having a meeting in court and deciding that people in this building need to be kicked out,” Gant said.
Days after Chicago experienced the snowiest November day on record, members of the tenant union and organizers gathered outside the building in 19-degree weather.
“It’s freezing. It’s so cold; there is no heat in the building,” Gant said.
Tenants expressed their outrage at the insufficient notice and the unlivable conditions. In 2025 alone, the building failed eight annual inspections, one conservation complaint inspection, and was cited for forty-four code violations. These included failure to maintain elevator equipment in safe and working condition, broken gas meters, absence of hard-wired carbon monoxide detectors, broken emergency phones, and more.
Not only have conditions over the past two years been unlivable for tenants, who have gone without heat and electricity for weeks on end, but residents said the building’s standing water and broken elevators make it nearly impossible for the thirty-seven remaining tenants to move out. “There’s elderly and disabled people that stay in this building,” Ivy said. “They can’t even move around. So how are they supposed to move around without even having no access to elevators? They’re literally trapped in this building.”
In the notice to vacate, Friedman Communities claimed it would provide tenants with housing relocation options that “are offered as suggestions only and do not guarantee availability or acceptance,” support services, and move-out assistance “upon the signing of a lease termination agreement and completion of move-out.” Friedman Communities also printed in the notice that representatives would “be at the property to answer questions and provide additional move-out and relocation support.”
Gant said that Friedman Communities has not responded to the tenants union’s request to meet.
Union representatives said that Friedman Communities has not responded to any of their demands for repairs, security, local relocation within South Shore, or relocation assistance.
A hearing has not yet been scheduled to revisit the vacate order, and it remains unclear whether the city will intervene before the deadline.
“So right now, we have made our demands about the meeting with Friedman,” Gant said. “We’ve also made our demands about the maintenance of the building, the money, the relocation, the time that they need, and we have not heard anything.”
Gant said the union has been in talks with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office, demanding the mayor immediately direct the Corporation Counsel to file an emergency motion requesting a later move-out date. The union is waiting to hear what concrete action the mayor plans to take in response to their demands.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Johnson said his office is “working overtime with the organizers of these tenants to ensure that they have a place of comfort and a place they can afford and feel good about.”
The mayor’s office and Friedman Communities did not respond to requests for comment.
Caeli Kean (she/they) is a Nairobi-raised, South Shore-based freelance photographer and community organiser. Find more of their work at caelikean.com or on Instagram @caelikeanphotography.
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