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Evanston approves additional support for Wesley Avenue tenants after displacement
Summary
Council approved a resolution to provide additional financial assistance to displaced Wesley Avenue tenants and emphasized case management and follow‑up; staff described six households and said most are employed, with one household on Social Security.
The Evanston City Council on April 27 authorized additional financial support for households displaced from the Wesley Avenue buildings, approving a staff recommendation to provide approximately $63,229.50 in tenant assistance and to continue case management and housing stabilization services.
Council member Rogers, who brought the measure forward, said the council had a responsibility to the tenants and apologized for the displacement they experienced. “We need to figure out what lessons can be learned here,” he said, adding that inspections and the timing of repairs should be reviewed to prevent recurrence.
Ike Agbo, director of the Health and Human Services Department, and Maurice Wilkinson, a human services specialist working with Connections for the Homeless, provided household summaries and said wraparound services had been offered to all tenants. Staff laid out living arrangements for six households (ranging from single‑person to four‑person households) and noted the housing placements achieved so far, including subsidized senior housing and other assisted units.
Council members pressed staff on oversight and documentation of the third‑party service provider that received prior funds to support relocations and case management. Laura Biggs, the city engineer, and staff described earlier inspections and the unique building configuration that complicated repairs; staff said some urgent structural repairs would have cost an estimated $1.2 million.
Mayor Pro Tem read memo figures showing how much of household income each family would pay for rent without assistance, noting examples such as one household at an estimated 86% of income toward rent without subsidy and another at 172.5%; staff said those figures illustrated the severe housing cost burdens the subsidy was intended to prevent.
Council approved the resolution on a roll call vote and asked staff to continue case management, provide documentation of services delivered, and return with lessons learned and oversight improvements to prevent similar displacements.
