Rumors that Lakeview's Ambers Hotel, 1632 W. Belmont Ave., could close suddenly, evicting residents into the cold without warning, have set tenants on edge. But management said the hotel is not at-risk of closing.
The Ambers is the latest contested single-room occupancy ( SRO ) hotel in Chicago. Several others have been sold and redeveloped in recent years. Affected are many LGBT elders, some who have lived in SROs for decades.
Trouble at the Ambers began Nov. 4, according to residents. The building's management company notified residents that their rent cycles, typically monthly, were going to be daily ones.
The notice set off suspicions that the hotel was closing, and that rather than notifying tenants, the management had opted to switch the rent cycles, giving them the legal power to deny rooms to residents.
Rumors circulated that the building had been sold and that everyone would have to find new housing.
"I'm not bitter about it," said Anthony Warren, who lives on the second floor. "If I have to move, fine. But tell me. Give me 30 days."
Warren, who wakes early to get to his job at a dry cleaners in Highwood, said that paying every day before work is stressful. He has not been given receipts for rent, he added. Others who tried to pay for their rooms at night said they have been denied.
To add to anxieties, residents claim that people living on the fourth floor were tricked into checking out, only to be subsequently denied rooms.
Residents said that management emptied the fourth floor for maintenance purposes. They were told to check out of the hotel and promised that they could check back in after repairs and painting. However, some were not allowed to check back in, or were relocated to another floor, Warren said.
"Now you have some of these people literally sitting out on the street with their belongings," he said. "It was a catch-22, a 'we tricked you into moving out'… what they did was a test run with the fourth floor."
Warren ( and others, who refused to go on-record with Windy City Times for fear of backlash ) has been in meetings with Lakeview Action Coalition, an organization of community groups that fights to keep affordable housing in the area, about their concerns.
David Labunski, president of Ambers Hotel, Inc., confirmed that some tenants were asked to check out for maintenance reasons, but he insisted that it is "business as usual" at the Ambers. No one has been asked to leave, he said.
"I don't even know why you're calling," Labunski told Windy City Times. "I don't think there's a story."
Labunski said that maintenance in the building was routine and that the switch to daily rentals was just that. He added that the building was not closing; rather, he said, workers were upgrading the building.
Labunski added that he does not own the Ambers. Rather, it is owned by the corporation that manages it ( Ambers Hotel, Inc. ) . Asked if he owned that corporation, Labunski told Windy City Times, "It's none of your business who owns it."
Corporations are listed publicly by the Illinois secretary of state. According to those records, Labunski is the president of Ambers Hotel, Inc. while Albert Labunski is the secretary. Albert Labunski is also listed as the president and secretary of Cedar Realty, where David Labunski was reached by phone.
Paul Sajovec is the chief of staff for 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack. His office has been investigating concerns that the building telling residents to leave.
"I called and left a voicemail for the owner, and they never called me back," Sajovec said. However, he said there is little indication that residents are being told to vacate.
Sajovec's office sent police to the Ambers to make sure that residents were not being illegally evicted. He said they reported that only one person had been told to leave; he was a man who had only stayed there for two nights and got into a fight with someone, they said.
Furthermore, Sajovec said, the switch to daily rental cycles does not change any resident's rights.
"If they've been there for 30 days or more, that's considered their residence," he said.
SROs have become contested housing in recent years, as many local politicians and residents see them as liabilities. SROs often provide housing to people who would not otherwise find housing, due to discrimination based on criminal records or because they cannot scrape together a security deposit.
Still, some have argued that they attract trouble and violate health codes.
SROs close every year now in Chicago, leading many to say that they are a dying breed of affordable housing.
Bob Zuley, an LGBT advocate and activist with Lakeview Action Coalition, argued that the trend of closing SROs in the city is a lesson the power of privilege over the needs of many.
"While some North American cities have recognized SRO's as a viable and necessary component of our urban housing stock and have constructively engaged in SRO preservation efforts, Chicago isn't one of them," Zuley said. "This is a matter of establishing priorities, and housing should always be a priority."
In July, both The Sheffield House hotel,3834 N. Sheffield Ave., and The Belair Hotel, 424 W. Diversey Ave., were sold, displacing an estimated 350 people amid controversy.
One who moved from the Belair was Warren, who relocated to the second floor of the Ambers. His rent went up $10 a week when the billing cycles at the Ambers went daily. However, it's not about the money for him.
"It's about the control," he said.
Regardless of the fate of the Ambers, Warren said he is filling out rental applications for apartments. He won't live in an SRO again. "I've seen enough," he said.
