A complaint has been filed with the state on behalf of eight residents of the Avidor Evanston, a high-rise building for “active seniors” over age 55.
Bev Paul, a spokesperson for the group of residents, tells Evanston Now, “We all moved here because we thought it would be really nice. But instead of living in a peaceful place it’s become a nightmare.”
Several of the residents testified at special meeting of the city’s Housing and Community Development Committee Monday night, as the panel considers changes in Evanston’s Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.
Some of those changes could make it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants for what Paul says are “bogus” reasons.
The tenants’ complaint, with the state’s office of Adult Protective Services, includes lease violation notices received by some residents. Those letters threaten eviction if the alleged violations do not stop.
For example, one “Lease Violation Notice” from November accused a tenant of “yelling at staff and inappropriate language about complimentary [free activities] services.”
The notice said this was a warning for a “First Offense,” but should there be “Repeated Offenses … your lease agreement with Avidor may be terminated with 30 days’ notice.”
That tenant, Susan Taylor (one of the complainants to the state) then wrote to Avidor management, saying that the Lease Violation Notice had very few specifics. Taylor said that it also did not include this: that the manager, “faster than I could get out of my chair, began walking menacingly towards me with his arm fully extended as if to push me out the door. Astonished, I told him not to touch me.”
There’s more, according to the complaining residents.
A separate Violation Notice, to a different tenant, alleged “Profane remarks about staff and decor in the building,” and also mentioned potential eviction should it happen again.
That tenant, who subsequently moved out on her own, wrote back saying that the alleged lease violation was without merit.
The tenant said that she and another resident were privately discussing “the new plastic floral arrangements in the building … and how unappealing they were.”
The tenant noted that “a private conversation was interpreted pejoratively as being profane and unruly by someone who was obviously eavesdropping and actively looking for evidence to attack residents in any way possible, a behavior that seems to continue ….”
Paul, one of the complaint group spokespersons, says the lease violation notices are being used to try to intimidate residents into not commenting about even incredibly insignificant issues.
“They don’t want us to say anything negative,” Paul notes.
“You can’t even criticize the flowers.”
The threat of eviction “puts the fear of God into an old person.”
Another issue concerns an effort to organize a tenants’ association.
A resident was then told that “It is our understanding that you have taken part in the formation of a group of residents at Avidor Evanston. Management does not recognize any organization as a spokesperson for one or more residents as it relates to ownership or management.”
The changes under consideration to Evanston’s landlord/tenant ordinance would allow such resident groups.
While the filing of an Elder Abuse Claim (for alleged emotional mistreatment and intimidation) is new, complaints against the Avidor are not.
Evanston Now reported last summer about a resident who said she was given a non-renewal notice with no reason given. (An explanation would be required under the proposed “Just Cause” eviction ordinance, with only certain actions considered acceptable for throwing a tenant out. Right now, no reasons are required for lease termination).
Last summer as well, resident Rick Timms provided comments to a city committee, saying he and his wife were the third tenants when the 169-unit building opened in 2020.
“After three trouble-free years,” Timms said, “we received notice that our lease would not be renewed. This was a bolt from the blue. Management gave us no prior indication of any displeasure with our tenancy, nor any opportunity to resolve whatever prompted the decision to send us away.”
In advocating for the “Just Cause” ordinance, Timms also noted that his wife has a “chronic, degenerative disease,” and the couple would not “wish this [non-renewal] predicament on anyone, even whoever decided to expel us.”
Evanston Now reached out to Avidor management, but we have not heard back. Avidor is managed by a company called Greystar.
We also contacted the state’s Adult Protective Services organization, but a spokesperson said the agency cannot comment at all, and cannot even confirm if they have received a complaint and are looking into it.
But the tenants say their complaint is in the system, and the state is indeed investigating.
As for Bev Paul, one of those who collected and turned in the complaints, she has not received a lease violation notice.
But Paul says she’s gotten involved to help her friends and neighbors.
“I am in this,” she says, because I cannot sit by and watch the injustice, watch these people being intimidated.”