Dignitaries from Springfield and the state were all smiles during a recent grand reopening of Poplar Place, a formerly run-down rental housing complex for low- and moderate-income people on the city's east side.
But Katherine James, 52, a Poplar Place resident with physical disabilities, said the renovations – costing $46.5 million in funding and financing from state, federal and private sources – failed to improve living conditions for her. In fact, she said things actually got worse compared with the Poplar Place unit she lived in before the renovation project began.
James has twisted, sprained and torn cartilage in her knees and ankle on her duplex apartment's uneven floor and had to be transported by ambulance to Springfield Memorial Hospital four times since she returned to the complex – including as recently as Nov. 24.
Her two-bedroom unit has a bathroom with a tub/shower combination instead of a walk-in shower. She has to climb four steps to leave and enter the apartment. And the space lacks many other features required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act to make it the fully accessible unit she requested before she moved back in a year ago.
"I just want justice," said James, a divorced mother of two adult children and a grandmother of two who depends on Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid for living expenses and medical care, respectively.
She has mobility issues and overall health challenges connected to fibromyalgia, vertigo, arthritis, endometriosis, inflammatory bowel disease and obesity.
"They have to fix the unit," James said. "They have to make it livable for a handicapped person. This is a violation of my rights. I deserve a safe place to live. I shouldn't have to worry about what I'm going to wrench next."
But rather than make the fixes, she said the owner of the complex, Chicago-based Related Midwest, has made minimal repairs to a hallway and taken steps to evict her at the end of November by not renewing her lease.
Related officials wouldn't tell Illinois Times why the company is trying to kick James out, saying it's a legal matter.
James said previous documents she has received from Related indicate the company viewed her short-term feeding of stray cats in the neighborhood as a lease violation that triggered non-renewal of the lease.
She views the company's effort to remove her as retribution for her months of complaints, even though those complaints were described as legitimate by an advocate from the nonprofit, government-funded Springfield Center for Independent Living.
"Landlords want to get away from people who whine," said Ralls Melotte, a retired architect who now works full-time as access coordinator for the nonprofit center.
He inspected James' unit at her request on Nov. 12 and deemed it an ongoing "fall risk" that Related officials have ignored until recently.
After IT began asking Related about James' complaints in recent days, James said managers from the company suddenly have been more open to hearing, and potentially acting on, her complaints. Since the newspaper's inquiries, Related has sent mixed signals on whether it will proceed with the eviction, she said.
James said she doesn't know whether she wants to stay at Poplar Place long-term, especially because of the tense dealings she has had with the complex's local manager, Nicolette Pawelczak, whom the company declined to make available for comment.
But James said she wants to see conditions improved for current and future Poplar Place residents with disabilities.
Related officials declined to be interviewed but said in written statements to IT that the complex complies with all ADA requirements.
"We are committed to upholding the highest standards of service and take all resident concerns seriously," the company's Nov. 25 statement said. "Over the weekend, the senior regional management team for Poplar Place engaged with the resident to better understand the resident's needs and is actively working with her to identify solutions. This process includes collaboration with Related's fair housing officer and fair housing counsel to address any conditions within our control."
The statement added: "We value the efforts of the Springfield Center for Independent Living and aim to be a partner in ensuring our properties remain in compliance with accessibility and fair housing requirements. We are also reviewing our accessibility features and policies with our staff to ensure a thorough understanding and consistent communication with residents and prospects."
James, along with other former Poplar Place residents who lived there before the renovations, were housed off-site while many of the old units were razed and others were gutted and improved.
Related began to move residents back in phases a year ago as units were completed. The grand reopening of the privately owned complex Oct. 23 marked the completion of that process, and the complex is 100% occupied, the company said at the event.
Melotte said James requested a fully ADA-accessible unit when she applied for a lease. "She expected to get a wheelchair shortly and would not be able to get into a conventional tub," he said.
Instead, James was put into an "ADA-adaptable unit," which could be retrofitted with equipment such as ramps, and she was told that her unit was "fully ADA compliant" based on her needs, according to James and Melotte. Such retrofitting would cost about $40,000 to $60,000, Melotte said.
Based on Related's estimated $26 million spent on actual construction – separate from financing-related costs – each unit in Poplar Place cost about $260,000 to build.
Related officials said Poplar Place has five "fully accessible" units designated for people with "mobility impairments" but that all five units are occupied.
"The ADA accommodations for those units are not externally visible from the street," a Related statement said. "These units are designed to have a lift installed where the stairs are located, should a resident require this."
If James wanted to apply for one of these units and was deemed qualified, she would have to be put on a waiting list, officials said.
Before James received a letter from a Related attorney on Nov. 22, she wasn't fully informed about paperwork she needed to fill out to apply for a fully compliant ADA unit, Melotte said. The company apparently hasn't provided enough education to local management in Springfield about its policies and procedures, he said.
James appeared to be the recipient of harassment and attempted intimidation by Pawelczak when she downplayed and discounted James' complaints, Melotte said.
After Melotte's inspection of James' unit, Pawelczak met with him and told him there was "no need for any ADA inspection since the unit already met ADA standards, and she had several inspection reports to prove it," according to Melotte.
"The meeting was conducted in a fairly rude fashion, and I was advised by her that the project attorney would be getting in touch with me," Melotte said.
As for the soft parts on James' floor, a written response from Related said flooring in the apartment was repaired in June.
"The inspector from the city of Springfield signed off at the time" and "there were no further issues reported with the flooring after July 1, 2024," the statement said.
James said soft sections of the floor were reinforced in a hallway at that time, but other soft spots remain, including in the living room, bathroom and kitchen.
According to James, the inspector never said all the floor problems were fixed. She said she immediately notified Pawelczak about continuing issues with the floor, but Pawelczak didn't believe her.
Melotte said James has been subjected to "cruel and unusual treatment by the local staff."
