Seniors living at Garden House of Maywood Apartments want rent compensation after nearly 2 weeks without hot water
Seniors living at the Garden House of Maywood Apartments protested outside their management company's offices Thursday, demanding a rent reduction after nearly two weeks without hot water.
About 20 senior residents and their family members chanted outside Evergreen Real Estate Group.
Residents said for 10 days in September they were forced to heat water on their stoves just to bathe.
"They've been bathing, heating up water on the stove, heating up water to wash dishes. It's just crazy!" said Eddie Mae Ferguson at the time.
The hot water has since been restored. Now they want a 14-day rent reduction to compensate them for the outage.
Some of the seniors are members of Rev. Robin Hood's church in North Lawndale. Hood organized the trip to the management office.
"We can't let them live like this," he said.
Residents said their problems are far from over. They shared photos with CBS News Chicago showing stained carpet in the building lobby, and vents in common areas and inside units they say haven't been cleaned in years.
"There's a lot of grease built up in here," said resident Sallie Welch. "Clean everything, 'cause it needs to be done. Everything, the whole building."
They're also demanding 24-hour building security so no unauthorized visitors can enter.
"Sunday morning when I get ready for church, I go downstairs, there's people sleeping in the kitchen on the couch," Ferguson said. "People walking in and out of the building, all night long."
They walked into the management company to make their voices heard, demanding a meeting.
In a statement, the executive vice president of operations said in part, "Management and ownership are reviewing recent resident concerns about building security." They added they "strive to address work orders in a timely manner and encourage residents to report all maintenance and repair needs to the management office."
The statement said the hot water outage was "addressed immediately" and residents will now receive "a prorated rent credit for the time the hot water was down."
Full statement from Evergreen Real Estate Group
The safety, comfort and well-being of residents is our top priority. We strive to address work orders in a timely manner and encourage residents to report all maintenance and repair needs to the management office. In addition, we conduct quarterly meetings with residents and regularly walk the property to identify any issues that need to be addressed by our on-site team.
Management and ownership are reviewing recent resident concerns about building security. In addition, while a recent unexpected boiler outage was addressed immediately by management, the delivery and installation of a new replacement boiler took 10 days to complete. We acknowledge the inconvenience to our residents during this outage, appreciate the patience they displayed, and have agreed to provide a prorated rent credit for the time the hot water was down.
