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Electrically Charged

by  Assistant Editor

Robert Taylor Homes residents aren’t the only ones getting charged about their high electric bills. As RJ has reported over recent months, many of the residents in Robert Taylor Homes have electric bills in the amounts of $500 to $22,000, and in some cases more. These unpaid bills are a problem for those residents who are being relocated under the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation.

The Relocation Contract with CHA states that residents must be current with all utility bills or they won’t be eligible for replacement housing. Some of the residents in Robert Taylor accumulated these high bills by not paying for electric service for a number of years. Other residents have wiring that is connected to other apartments and some tenants inherited accumulated electric bills from the last tenant who occupied their apartment. Read more »
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Shocking Electric Bills Update

by  Assistant Editor

In the March/April issue, I wrote about extremely high electric bills that many of the residents in Robert Taylor Homes are faced with.

Some low-income residents have bills from $1,000 to $20,000. Many residents are in shock as if they have been struck by lightning when it comes to these high light bills. The high light bills could make them “lease non-compliant” and then they will not be eligible for replacement housing.

Many Robert Taylor residents can watch the storm of demolition and relocation from their windows; they watch the surrounding buildings falling and being demolished at a rapid pace. Many of the residents don’t know which way to turn or where to run for cover or for help. Many of them are expressing great concerns about where will they live. Read more »

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Shocking Electric Bills

by  Assistant Editor

Many Robert Taylor residents are suddenly finding themselves facing extremely high electric bills, bills in the $10,000 range and higher that can make them non-lease compliant and ineligible for replacement housing.

CHA is going through a $1.6 billion Plan for Transformation that states if a resident is found non-lease compliant, they may not be relocated to another development, a scattered site unit or the same development or receive a Housing Choice Voucher (formerly known as Section 8).

A tenant can be found non-lease compliant if a tenant’s utilities are not paid up. One young single mother of three, Lithia Henderson, said, “My electric bills are sky high. How do they expect for me to pay this $11,000 light bill?” Read more »

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CHA Seniors Protest Electric Bills

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“How many dead elders and infants does it take before President George Bush, Gov. George Ryan and Mayor Richard Daley stop blocking the summer cooling program?”

That’s a question being asked in a petition by presidents and vice presidents of the Chicago Housing Authority’s North Side senior buildings, and Curly Cohen, from Affordable Power to the People. Together, they are working to maintain the CEDA summer cooling assistance program. On July 13, they protested at Gov. Ryan’s office at the James R. Thompson Building in the Loop. They had another march on July 30. Read more »

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High Cost of Gas

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This past winter was rough on a lot of us – and not just because of winter and the frigid cold that came with it. But this winter, for a lot of people, came a big problem and that was due to the high increase in gas bills.

The high gas bills really presented a big problem for some residents who pay their own heating bill. There are some programs that offer help but what residents fear most is becoming lease non-complaint: All Chicago Housing Authority residents who pay gas and electric bills know that they can’t be behind in these utilities or have the bill in someone’s name other than the lease holder. If they are behind, they must be in some type of payment plan, the problems of which I will write about a little later in this article. Read more »
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