Abused Latino tenants find a voice

January 22, 2007
BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter
When Elena Giron moved herself and her two kids into a West Rogers Park apartment last year, it was on her new landlord's promise that he'd install a working oven in her kitchen, fix the leaking shower, and give the place a fresh coat of paint.
That didn't happen. Instead, as the weeks turned into months, Giron, a 36-old native of Mexico, and her two kids, Katherine, 8, and Cristian, 2, tried to get used to living in a one-bedroom apartment that had no working smoke detectors, shoddy plastic-sealed windows, and was crawling with cockroaches.

"So many times I told him he had to fix the bathroom, send out an exterminator," said Giron. "At first, he said he would. Then he started saying he would jack my rent up to $800 if he fixed it."

Many Hispanics like Giron, who often aren't fluent in English and don't know their rights as tenants, fall victim to abuse from property owners who collect rent on nearly uninhabitable apartments, according to Ismael Enriquez, community organizer with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization.

The MTO is partnering with Centro Sin Fronteras, a Chicago-based Hispanic community advocacy group, to educate Latinos on their rights as renters through community events, word of mouth and educational workshops.

Enriquez said MTO has already had success conducting Spanish-language workshops in predominantly Hispanic communities and has seen calls from Hispanics to its hotline -- (773) 292-4988 -- double since 2005.

Giron finally moved out last month and found a clean studio apartment blocks away, but she vows to stay involved with MTO.

"I think there are a lot of people who see you are Hispanic, they think you're ignorant and scared and won't speak up," she said, "but nobody has to live like that."

ecepeda@suntimes.<a href="comhttp://...ntimes.com</a>/news/metro/2 ... 22.article



This ticks me off. It's as if American people purposly set cockroaches free and don't do repairs just because they are Latino. Sorry......poor Americans have lived with this for decades. This isn't a "crime against Latinos". I can't count how much money etc. I've personally put into rental units to make them "liveable". There's roach traps and roach spray in the stores for a reason......they live here too. Welcome to the rhelm of "slum lords". I rented an apartment in up-state New York. There was human feces smeared on the walls and it was a pig sty. A friend and I rented it. We cleaned and painted and carpeted it. It looked NICE. The landlord then decided to evict us because my roommate was gay. Charged tripple the rent after we did all the work. We tried to fight it and were told, too bad. So this isn't new and it isn't a crime against Latinos. Welcome to Americas poor.