In a unanimous vote Monday night, City Council decided to extend aid to displaced tenants of three Wesley Avenue apartment buildings. 

The city will allocate $63,229.50 in rental subsidies from the City Emergency Assistance program and the Affordable Housing Fund to provide up to 12 months of additional support. 

“We have put them in a situation that’s our responsibility to take care of them for at least one more year, ” Ald. Matt Rodgers (8th) said.

Two years ago, the city deemed 2014, 2018 and 2024 Wesley Ave. at risk of collapsing and immediately relocated 18 households consisting of 32 people to an extended-stay accommodation funded by the city.  

Though Ald. Krissie Harris (2nd) ultimately voted in favor of the extended aid, she was hesitant to give her support. She suggested that continued recipients of the funds should be required to participate in financial literacy education, arguing there needs to be a change in the remaining recipients’ behavior in order for them to no longer need the assistance.  

“What changes in a year? If it hasn’t changed now, what’s going to be different in a year?” she asked.

Both Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) and Rodgers pushed back on these proposed requirements. 

Rodgers said it was “frustrating” that the city would ask people that it had relocated to go through any “additional steps.”

“Financial literacy is not what got us here,” Rodgers said.

In addition to providing resources for people to “get back onto their feet,” Rodgers emphasized a need to revisit the original cause of the displacements.

Burns said after the relocation, City Council and city staff looked into why residents were not notified of their eviction earlier. He added that a similar incident to the Wesley Avenue evictions was unlikely to occur because city staff inspected other apartments of the same style.

Burns also shot back at Harris, saying that the program has successfully helped displaced tenants find stable housing. He said another year of assistance would likely help the other tenants. 

“These are hardworking people who were living in affordable units,” he said. “They had no reason to believe that they wouldn’t be able to continue to stay there as long as they remained income eligible.”

He noted that the tenants that no longer require assistance found stable housing through “a mix of their own efforts” and support from Connections for the Homeless and Evanston’s Health & Human Services Department.

He also pointed out that all but one of the heads of household on the list of displaced tenants work full time. That individual who does not work receives Social Security benefits, he said. 

“I know that these six households are looking forward to these extensions, and I appreciate that support,” Burns said.

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