Housing advocates say tenant-driven complaint system ‘not effective’

QUINCY — The majority of the 26 speakers at Monday’s Quincy City Council meeting didn’t want to talk about the “ridiculous roundabout” as one opponent called it, or the preservation of St. Boniface Church.

Ten of the speakers wanted to advocate for better housing conditions for Quincy renters.

Lisa Wigoda, a member of Quincy’s Safe and Livable Housing Committee, said the system, established in 2023 for tenants to file complaints with the city for landlords who are not keeping their properties up, isn’t working.

“I have assisted these people and many more when they jump through the hoops and do the proper paperwork and file a minimum housing complaint form,” Wigoda said.

She then highlighted one of the previous speakers who said the furnace in her apartment hasn’t been working since February 2023.

“She filed a complaint with the city (in 2023) … Her furnace is still not working,” Wigoda said. It is too much to expect our inspection department to stay on top of problems and make sure that the landlords are fixing them.”

Wigoda added that the city’s inspection department doesn’t have the manpower to staff all of the complaints.

“In the case of another man who spoke today, he had given the landlord $2,250,” she said. “He was given the key then and the landlord promised the place would be ready to move into. When he moved in, water wasn’t hooked up. The stove wasn’t hooked up. The front door didn’t lock. There were outlets that were burned out. He had to struggle to get his money back.”

The third example Wigoda cited was of a woman who had to leave Quincy and move to Golden to find housing.

“She filed her complaint with the city inspection department. Her place was immediately placarded by our inspectors because it wasn’t safe electrically, and also there was live sewage in the basement,” she said. “She has been living she had to move her children from the Quincy public school system. She is currently it’s been a year, October, a year ago. She commutes from Golden, Illinois, living in the backyard in a trailer with her children. She had to take them from their friends. She still can’t find a place in Quincy, and starting tomorrow, she’s getting a second job to try to support her family. So the tenant driven complaint system is not working, and we can find a better way.”

Members of the committee handed out a summary from Urbana, Ill. which detailed that city’s landlord/tenant ordinance.

The City Council took no action.

In other action, aldermen:

• Denied a special permit to obtain a liquor license to operate a gaming parlor with video gaming terminals and alcohol sales at 305 North 18th Street/1738 Broadway Street.
• Approved a zoning change from M3 (planned industrial) to M2 (heavy industrial) for property located at 2007 North 30th Street to allow for the construction of a warehouse facility/facilities at 2007 North 30th Street.
• Approved a zoning change from C1B (retail commercial) to C2 (general commercial) for property located at 2536 Broadway Street and 2600-2602 Broadway Street to expand the permitted commercial uses at each location.
• Approved $336,400 in TIF Funding to Cotter Pin Capital to install a fire suppression system for 116 N. 3rd.
• Approved the purchase of 225 N. 5th Street in the amount of $90,000 which will allow for approximately 30 additional parking stalls to be added to City Parking Lot F.
• Approved $23,500 for the demolition of 206 Chestnut St. and 606 N. 6th under the Fix or Flatten program.
• Approved the proposal from Four Points Engineering and Land Surveying of Hannibal, MO in the
  amount of $34,840.00 for topographic surveying services.
• Approved extending the lease agreement with RM Leasing of Quincy for the Quincy Barge Dock for a four year term beginning on January 1, 2025, and ending on December 31, 2028.
• Approved a proposal from Weaver Consultant Group North Central of Chicago for environmental consulting services for a five year contract beginning on January 1, 2025 and ending on December 31, 2029, with an optional two year extension.
• Approved a bid in the amount of $1,579,136.00 from Diamond Construction for the 2024 Alley
  and Capital Improvement Project which includes resurfacing 22 alleys and six streets.
• Approved $85,000 salaries for the city clerk and city treasurer and increasing aldermanic salaries from $100 to $125 per meeting, following the 2025 elections.