One
the last remaining affordable housing tenants at the Astor House in Rogers Park
saw support from a small group of activists who gathered
outside the Daley Center Thursday morning prior to his eviction trial.
The
tenant, Melvin Jennings, 58, lives in the 147-unit Astor House, which some say is one of the last affordable housing developments in the Rogers Park nighborhood on Chicago's far North Side.
Jennings moved into the Astor House, located at 1246 W. Pratt Blvd., in October 2012, shortly before BJB Properties stepped
in to whip the troubled property into shape. The housing organizers
argue, however, that BJB took over the property with the intent of
quickly rehabbing the units and then marketing them to higher-paying
renters, specifically students from nearby Loyola University. The company manages three other buildings in the Rogers Park area and more than 30
others on the North Side, according to its website.
Jennings said he pays $700 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, and BJB Properties has already hiked the rent for similar units.
"Now
they're asking for the same one bedroom [for] $850 [to] $900, and you
got an elevator problem, you got rodent problems," he said.
The number of homeless students in Illinois has ballooned over recent years with many of these children and youth unable to access vital educational supports, according to a 
An advisory zoning committee for Chicago's 46th Ward signed off on a private developer's request for $14 million in tax increment financing (TIF) assistance for a proposed luxury housing complex in Uptown at its monthly meeting Monday night.
Chanting "No more evictions!", a group of about 60 Chicago housing activists picketed outside the office of a Logan Square property management firm Thursday evening to call out the company for allegedly displacing tenants from one of its apartment buildings.
The Chicago City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate approved the 
