PRESS RELEASE: EDGEWATER POISED TO LOSE TWO SROS WITH OVER 200 UNITS.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCTOBER 8, 2025
EDGEWATER POISED TO LOSE TWO SROS WITH OVER 200 UNITS
The Northmere and The Chatelaine, Two Edgewater SROs, Face Crisis and Closure.
“I’ve been here eight years… if I lost my housing, I just pray or hope I’ll be placed still on the North Side. I’ve been homeless before, I don’t want never to go back. If the building is sold, they can’t just put us out.” - Moses Duffie, Chatelaine Tenant
What: Press Conference
When: Friday, October 10, 10am
Where: Chatelaine SRO, 4911 N. Winthrop
Why: Chatelaine SRO tenants and 48th ward Alderwoman Manaa-Hoppenworth call on Chatelaine owner to give tenants a fair deal to avoid homelessness ahead of Oct. 15 deadline and call on City to make reforms to Building Court and Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund to avoid this outcome in the future for the few remaining SROs. Edgewater is on the brink of losing two SROs with over 180 units, one to a sale, one to unsafe conditions. Preservation tools are no longer available.
Available for interviews:
Cheia Myers, Chatelaine Tenant
Arieh Venick, ONE Northside Housing Justice Organizer
Dordie Hester, ONE Northside Housing Justice Organizer
Jim Garfield, Uptown People’s Law Center
Jeff Martin, Leland Tenant
Alderwoman Manaa-Hoppenworth, 48th Ward
Background:
As of October 10th, two of the five remaining unsubsidized SROs in Edgewater stand on the precipice of closure, leaving nearly 100 long-time residents and working-class community members at risk of displacement and homelessness.
In December 2024, the 48th Ward office and local community organizations were alerted of Michael Schumacher’s intent to sell the Chatelaine, located at 4911 N. Winthrop. The preservation period which ended in June 2025, as dictated by the SRO Preservation Ordinance, did not garner a preservation buyer. Schumacher's mismanagement and negligence of the property led to deplorable conditions—rampant pest infestations (roaches, bedbugs, mice, spiders), ongoing plumbing and sewage issues, water damage and mold, and a long-neglected elevator. Multiple non-profit developers viewed the 60+ unit building, but the conditions and lack of sufficient funding made the building impossible to preserve. With the preservation period over, the building was put on the open real estate market in June 2025, putting dozens of long-term tenants who live paycheck to paycheck at risk of displacement and homelessness. To compound the tenants’ stress and uncertainty, the owner issued illegal 120-day notices and spread misinformation about the building’s future.
"As a former SRO resident myself, this issue is very personal to me. Each time we lose an SRO, hundreds of residents are put at risk of homelessness. The Chatelaine residents are longstanding community members of Edgewater, and like all of us, they deserve fair and just housing. Despite using every tool at our disposal to keep the Chatelaine affordable and prevent tenant displacement, it wasn’t enough. The City and State must do better to stop this from happening again and again.” - Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth
As tenants in the Chatelaine faced bad living conditions and illegal practices from Schumacher, tenants one block west at the Northmere, 4943 N. Kenmore, were suffering the mismanagement of Ken Iscra. Initially, the 100+ unit building went to court over unpaid taxes where a receiver was appointed. Now it is in building court due to multiple building code violations and deleterious building conditions. Iscra’s negligence and mismanagement of the Northmere has led it to such a condition that advocates worry a vacate order may be imminent.
Chicago faces a crisis in its ability to preserve affordable rental housing. The typical tools used to preserve Single Room Occupancy Hotels in the past are no longer available. Previously, the City used Building Court to hold negligent landlords accountable and to preserve affordable rental housing. But now there is a fissure in the system. Units are getting lost. Slum lords are allowed to leave tenants living in deplorable conditions and ultimately face homelessness when they move to sell their buildings.
Additionally, the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund was a critical source of subsidies that allowed a new SRO owner to rehab the building and keep the units affordable. However, CLIHTF faces a $10 million budget shortfall. The Trust Fund plans to terminate 600 subsidies across the city as people move out of their units. Without the Trust Fund, the City does not have housing subsidies that can be used to guarantee deeply affordable units after an SRO is purchased and rehabbed, whether by a for-profit or non-profit developer.
The story of the Chatelaine and the Northmere highlight the broken system we have here in Chicago to address the maintenance and preservation of our remaining SRO housing stock. Nearly 40 percent of Chicago’s SROs have closed since 2014, according to a 2024 University of Illinois Chicago study. The 48th ward has been working diligently with local organizations like ONE Northside and the Uptown People’s Law Center to ensure everything possible is done to try to stabilize these buildings and protect the dignity of the tenants. In the short term, the owners must negotiate with their tenants to ensure no one is left homeless, and in the long term the City must address the inefficacy of Building Court and the City and State must address the budget shortfall at the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust fund, so we can avoid the further loss of SRO units.
SRO Preservation is a top priority for the 48th Ward Office. When Heartland Housing collapsed in 2023, hundreds of Edgewater and Uptown neighbors in the San Miguel (907 W Argyle) and Hollywood House (5700 N Sheridan Road) were at risk of losing their homes. Alderwoman Manaa-Hoppenworth was involved in the successful negotiations to transition both properties to affordable housing developers with a focus on deep affordability, zero resident displacement, and improving the quality of life for residents. Read more about the San Miguel and Hollywood House here.
