How TikTok videos catapulted a Harvey slumlord onto the national stage

Rudolph Williams was half asleep, watching television when he heard the ruckus. He opened the door. Plywood. Workers from Skyline DKI, based in Blue Island, were boarding up his apartment complex. 

That came as a surprise to Rudolph, who eventually realized he was trapped inside. 

“When they put that board up, they knocked the handles” off of the screen door, the senior said. The windows were boarded up, too. 

His nephew James Williams and girlfriend Bella previously lived at the property. They moved out in April 2023, but still check on James’ uncle. The couple just so happened to stop by when they saw a crew boarding up the property around 7:00 p.m. They had started as early as 2:00 p.m, tenants said.

Bella began recording. James, too. “‘Yeah, they knocked the door handles off,’” Rudolph told the couple. Skyline DKI workers were spooked, James said, and began to unscrew the plywood from Rudolph’s door.

Skyline DKI boarded up another unit with tenants inside—a couple with three kids, who were forced to climb out their back windows. Skyline DKI did not respond to requests for comment.

A collapsed staircase. No heat. Windows that don’t open. For months, Harvey’s building department had urged owners to make critical repairs. That—and clear communication with tenants of the need to find alternative housing during reconstruction—didn’t really happen. 

Realizing the severity of structural decline, Harvey ultimately issued a non-occupancy order, requiring tenants to vacate the complex. Residents like Rudolph were blindsided in the cold winter night.

Bella posted a total of five TikToks online documenting that Jan. 5 night. Nearly 13 million total views nationwide, the videos even caught the attention of actress Amanda Seales of HBO’s “Insecure.”

That was only the beginning. 

The board-up and Bella’s videos fortuitously brought to bear roguish living conditions at the building, problems residents said persisted for years with no intervention. Many tenants use Section 8 housing vouchers to pay rent. Some have disabilities. The fiasco underscores the ubiquitous rental experience for those society deems disposable.

Municipal non-occupancy orders and county eviction policy

According to a statement from the mayor’s office, the city’s building department had warned the property owners of structural damages at the two buildings, located at 14445 and 14437 S. Halsted. In mid-October 2023, the building department granted owners Jay Patel and Henry Cho of Ascend Property Group two weeks to hire a structural engineer and contact contractors to address the collapsed staircase at the southern structure.

The statement suggests tenants were to vacate both buildings during the reconstruction period. On Oct. 28, the city granted another extension to allow residents to make housing arrangements. The city urged the owners to communicate this to tenants. An unnamed security company and owners would have access to two units at the northern structure.

When the extension expired, the city advised owners that the southern structure was beyond redemption. On Dec. 14, Harvey Director of Building and Inspectional Services Archie Tolar advised owners both buildings were a public danger, and tenants needed to leave by Dec. 29.

On Jan. 5, the day a private company boarded the property, Harvey building department workers posted “no-occupancy” signs on several units. That likely occurred during or after the units were boarded up.

Harvey Police Department officers were on site conducting “inspections and wellness checks,” according to the city’s statement. It’s unclear what that means.

The scandal warrants scrutiny for Harvey building department policies and local officials, who some critics said were naive to entrust critical information to property owners and management already accused of tenant neglect. Some tenants told the HWH they heard rumors they were to leave the premises, but weren’t entirely sure.

As Skyline DKI enclosed units with plywood, Bella initially misidentified them as Harvey police. The crew corrected her, indicating local police gave them permission to board up units, she said. “[They] aren’t the sheriff,” Bella told the HWH. “‘Cause what authority do you guys really have? You guys didn’t come here with sheriffs,” she said of the crew.

But the Cook County Sheriff’s Office only enforces an eviction once a notice has been filed in court, according to a spokesperson. 

The property managers never filed one. And whether a landlord would file an eviction notice when a municipality deems a property uninhabitable is situational.

If a substandard property isn’t a threat to public safety, the landlord would be expected to file an eviction notice to vacate residents, said Jim Garfield, Supervising Attorney at Uptown People’s Law Center. However, if the municipality says the building is beyond redemption and a threat to the public—as was the case on Halsted—then the landlord doesn’t have to do anything because the city is technically the evictor, according to Garfield.

‘The mismanagement company’

Cop cars, television news crews, social media personalities, and concerned locals swarm outside the complex. Meanwhile, Mary Bernadette Brooks hovers above the stovetop. 

She’s frying catfish, wearing a sleeveless house dress the Saturday afternoon after the board-up. The left arm drapes her walker. The overlight shines upon the golf-sized knot on her right lobe. A brain tumor. 

“It concerns me,” she said of having to vacate, “but not as much as my personal stuff is concerning me,” the 66-year-old said. Brooks, who relies on Section 8, also has breast cancer. Brooks mops everyday. That hasn’t kept the cockroaches away. 

In November 2019, Halsted Development Group, LLC purchased the property for over $1 million. RFN Consulting, LLC served as the property managers. In February 2023, it was sold once again to California-based Ascend Property Group. 

Chicago Style Management is the current property manager. The company could not be reached by press time.

Brooks described RFN Consulting, LLC as the “mismanagement company. They were supposed to be meaning this place but they weren’t.” She began withholding rent in September 2023. The on-site manager quietly moved out two years ago and Brooks hasn’t interacted with property managers since.

Neither has Genevieve Tyler, who was recently laid off from the Carl Buddig & Co. food manufacturing plant in South Holland. She tossed out her bed because it had bed bugs. Tyler sleeps on her couch. A space heater sits nearby. She hasn’t had heat in four years, she said.

“The stove don’t work. I put water in [a pot] so I can make the house steam so it can get heat in here,” Tyler said. “When I first moved in, they used to exterminate every other week. They don’t even exterminate, no more.”

Her unit sits directly across from the collapsed staircase. Thinking burglars were trying to enter her apartment, Tyler ran toward the back window, escaping onto the balcony. She wandered the streets for two days. The first night, a 24-hour liquor store up the street let her lounge. The second, an acquaintance gave Tyler funds for a hotel stay. 

But that came at a cost. “I’m a woman. You know what I’m saying? I had to do some [expletive] that I don’t usually do just to get money just to get a room,” Tyler said, before returning. Now, she has nowhere else to go.

The first of the month

RFN Consulting, LLC stopped overseeing management in October 2023, according to company owner Robert Nowak. However, it continued to collect rent money, even from voucher holders, like Mark Montgomery, who has lived at the property for a year and has an emotional support animal to help with chronic depression.

“As far as I know, my case manager is still paying RFN,” Montgomery said.

The Housing Authority of Cook County pays rent on behalf of several tenants. Rent is sent via direct deposit to the owner or agent, generally whoever the tenant’s lease was with when they first occupied their unit, spokesperson Marcus King said.

The housing authority paid rent to RFN on behalf of all Section 8 tenants through November 2023, King confirmed. CSM was paid for the months of December and January for two of three tenants, King said. 

Looking for a new home

At the time, Alderman Tyrone Rogers (6th) told the HWH he didn’t know much about the incident and was awaiting additional details.

Mayor Chris Clark arrived in the area 48 hours after the incident. An investigation will ensue, Clark told reporters days following the board-up. The mayor will examine body camera footage of the officers involved, he said.

It’s a waiting game for tenants, many with nowhere else to go. 

HACC is offering one-bedroom accommodations at its property on Turlington Avenue, locally dubbed “the Robey building,” should anyone want to remain in Harvey. 

It’s a senior building, and those multi-family units aren’t housing choice voucher apartments. However, Halsted tenants have rental assistance, and their portion of the rent will be calculated the same, King said. 

A staffer has contacted the majority of the tenants, he added, and some already have moving papers.

In the dead of night, locals unboarded several units. Cook County Board-Up arrived thereafter to clean up the area.

Residents paid a deposit upon move-in. They’re unsure if it’ll be returned.