Residents call on city to fix sewage, flooding problems at CHA property in Heart of Chicago

Mauricio Vasquez stands next to a pump where sewage water leaks into in his basement in a CHA property in Heart of Chicago on Wednesday, June 17, 2020. Mauricio Vasquez says the site has had persistent plumbing and flooding problems. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

A pile of what appears to be mud and feces sits in Mauricio Vasquez’s backyard, a consequence of a recurring flooding problem in his public housing building in the Heart of Chicago.

Standing outside his home in the 2000 block of West 19th Street, Vasquez, 59, and his neighbors Wednesday called on the city to fix the flooding and sewage issues that they say have been reoccurring each spring for the past five years.

“All the time they want to talk about moving me out,” Vasquez said about the Chicago public housing agency. “And they want to move me out, but I keep telling them I didn’t do anything. You guys are not fixing the problem.”

The housing authority said Wednesday it was working with the city’s Department of Water Management to assess the issue, which could stem from a collapsed water pipe under the sidewalk. It was reported to the agency Friday. The agency said they previously made repairs to the property and relocated residents.

“CHA is committed to ensuring that the property is clean and will continue to work with property managers and residents to address the matter until it is sufficiently resolved,” the agency said in a statement.

A recent video shows Vasquez using a shovel to remove what appears to be mud and feces from a drain in his concrete backyard. By Wednesday, a small pile could still be seen near the backyard drain. The basement smelled like something was rotting around small pools of water that had formed on the concrete floor.

Vasquez has lived for about 20 years at the property located just west of Harrison Park. It’s owned by the Chicago Housing Authority, according to the Cook County recorder of deeds. It’s part of more than 170 properties known as the scattered sites southeast.

The issues started around 2015 after the city did work on the street. The flooding got so bad that he was temporarily moved to a different CHA property while work was done on the building, he said. When he moved back in, it appeared the flooding issue was resolved. But soon, the flooding continued each spring, bringing feces and other waste to his basement and backyard.

Mauricio Vasquez explains flooding and sewage in his basement in Heart of Chicago on Wednesday, June 17, 2020.

The basement was converted into a storage space, and Vasquez uses pallets to place his items, hoping to spare it from the flood damage.

He sometimes gets headaches that he attributes to the stench.

“It’s a horrible smell, but I did what I could to minimize it by cleaning, disinfecting, doing what I had to do,” Vasquez. “Every time I go out the back door to throw out my garbage, I literally had to have a mask because it was so nasty.”

Sewage waste is piled up outside of drain hole at a CHA site in Heart of Chicago on Wednesday, June 17, 2020.

Silas Short, who lives next door to Vasquez, said he got a whiff of it from his second-floor apartment window.

“It was completely unbearable,” Short said.

He said he knows Vasquez likes to cook, but he can’t imagine how he’s able to do that with the lingering smell of the waste from the flooding. Short said he wants Vasquez to stay in the neighborhood.

Alli Kunke, 25, also lives next door to Vasquez in the same building as Short. Last year, she filed a complaint with 311, and she and her father, who owns the building she lives in, tried to contact the management company that contracts with CHA. They never got through to anyone.

“Nobody deserves to live like this, especially his family,” Kunke said, pointing out the problem comes on top of a public health crisis with COVID-19.

Sarita Walker, a community activist part of Lincoln United Methodist Church, called for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to have a meeting with the housing authority, streets and sanitation and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) about the property.

Like many activists in recent days, Walker was critical of how many funds go toward the Chicago Police Department, saying that money should be used to fix the city’s housing problems.

Diego Morales, a staff assistant for Sigcho-Lopez, said the 25th Ward office has reached out to the CHA about Vasquez’s home and other public housing properties in the area.

“We need a little more urgency around these kinds of things,” Morales said.

Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.