Bensenville, Birkett vow crackdown on 'slums'

A child sleeps in a closet. Sewage and water floods the basement floor and the house has no heat.

Fourteen tenants have lived in this three-bedroom home simultaneously, alongside mice and cockroaches, with only one bathroom, which doesn't function properly.

Such were the conditions recently found by Bensenville inspectors at a home on South Barron Street. The landlord, Rosalba Sebastian-Vazquez, was subsequently charged with criminal housing management.

"Slum landlords are victimizing the residents of Bensenville," said Bensenville Village President John Geils.

Such conditions victimize more than the people who live there, he said. They affect property values and, in extreme cases, can spread disease.

Village officials and DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett announced a crackdown Tuesday on landlords who allow overcrowding or fail to keep their property up to code.

"If you are operating a place like this, it won't be tolerated," Birkett said, standing next to photos of the South Barron Street home.

Three other homes in Bensenville have been cited for code violations, mainly overcrowding, in the past few weeks. They included homes on South Center, Hamilton and Minor streets. A fire that destroyed an apartment building on Gerry Stevens Court last month was partially blamed on overcrowding as well.

Birkett said the problem doesn't exist solely in Bensenville but throughout DuPage County. But he did identify other communities specifically.

Bernard Kleina, executive director of Hope Fair Housing in Wheaton, said that his organization has helped people with similar problems in communities such as Addison, West Chicago, Aurora and Warrenville.

"We see a lot of this, especially with newer immigrant populations who may experience discrimination in their search for housing," he said. "Because they are not familiar with all the laws of the land, they are easy targets for landlords who are slumlords."

Some people, especially immigrants, often don't know how to report criminal housing conditions, Kleina said.

Bensenville officials say they want to make that easier. The village has set up a code enforcement hotline, (630) 594-1515 and offers a $1,000 cash reward to anyone who reports inhumane living conditions. The reward will be given if a violator is convicted.

In addition, the village is incorporating a new program that solicits cooperation for code enforcement. Though the details have yet to be sketched out, the village plans to offer roughly $2 million in grants to those who want to fix up residential areas. It calculates awarding up to $5,000 per residence, for up to 400 residences. It has yet to determine qualifications for the grant.

"We think it's kind of innovative," Village Attorney Gerry Gorski said.

The village board is expected to discuss the program in more detail at a future board meeting.