Editor's note: This story was originally published in the Belleville News-Democrat.
Half of a west Belleville duplex that’s falling into disrepair has become a headache for city officials, police, neighbors and an alderwoman who is “frustrated beyond belief.”
The man who owned and lived in the unit died five years ago, apparently with no will. Since that time, it’s been tied up in bureaucracy with a reverse-mortgage lender and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which essentially inherited the federally-insured loan and its property lien.
To make matters worse, a squatter took possession early last year and refuses to leave, and police can’t force entry without a court-ordered eviction, according to city officials.
The woman has removed HUD-ordered locks on doors and replaced them with her own and repeatedly signed up for utilities using fake names, said Scott Tyler, the city’s director of health, housing and building.
“When I asked HUD what their next step is, they said they were going to sell it, and whoever buys it is going to be responsible for getting the squatter out of there,” he said.
“I said, ‘Do you let these people know that? They’re buying a piece of property ... Do they understand that there’s a squatter in there and that they have to deal with it?’ It’s crazy.”
As of last week, the front window featured dueling messages, including a “No Trespassing” sign posted by the squatter and a city notice stating that the unit is “condemned as unsafe for human occupancy” due to the water being turned off. No one answered a knock on the door by a BND reporter.
The other half of the duplex has a different owner who’s been renting it out, but the tenant left about a month ago, neighbors say.
Enlisting congressional help
In January, the city and a nonprofit organization called West End Redevelopment Corp. asked for help with the problem unit at 7312 Foley Drive from U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-13th District in Illinois). The organization even offered to buy it.
According to Budzinski’s chief of staff, John Lee, her caseworkers reached out to HUD representatives, who told them that squatting is a “local law-enforcement issue” and the agency is planning to sell the loan this year to an eligible bidder as part of an “asset sale.”
“The new servicer will move forward with foreclosure to get title to the property, and then they can sell it,” wrote HUD representative Kimberly Danna in an email to a Budzinski caseworker.
Under Illinois law, it could take several more months for a new owner to evict the squatter.
In the meantime, the unit continues to deteriorate. Shingles are falling from the roof, black mold is growing on exterior siding, paint is peeling off the garage door and trash is strewn in the yard.
Ward 8 Alderwoman Kara Osthoff didn’t respond to BND requests for comment. But she expressed concern in a December 2023 email obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
“The perception that the west end of Belleville in particular is ‘going downhill’ is something I know you have all heard from the community,” Osthoff wrote to Tyler, Mayor Patty Gregory, Police Chief Matt Eiskant, Sgt. Sam Parsons and city attorneys Garrett Hoerner and Lloyd Cueto.
“I know that we have many many issues facing us, but if we don’t start addressing these things with more urgency and immediacy, I don’t know what is going to become of the aging house stock we have on this side of town.”
Assistant Police Chief Mark Heffernan, spokesman for Belleville Police Department, declined to be interviewed this month about the Foley Drive unit or squatting in general.
Built in the 1980s
Kent Gardner, who owned and lived in the unit at 7312 Foley Drive, died in 2019 at age 87. Before retirement, the former East St. Louis resident had worked as a U.S. government energy consultant in California and elsewhere for decades, according to his obituary.
St. Clair County records show Gardner bought the unit in the 1980s, when it was part of a new complex of four duplexes, also known as villas, at Foley Drive and South 74th Street. He’s still listed as the property owner.
Gardner took out a $183,000 home-equity conversion mortgage in 2011, the records show. It was part of a Federal Housing Administration reverse-mortgage loan program for senior citizens who go through FHA-approved lenders.
“(The program) enables you to withdraw a portion of your home’s equity to use for home maintenance, repairs, or general living expenses,” HUD’s website explains.
Today, the Foley Drive unit is assessed at $44,177. That’s one-third of its market value of $132,531, although other units in the same complex have sold for significantly less in recent years.
Kent Gardner’s wife, Patty, died in 2011, his obituary states. Son Scott Gardner couldn’t be reached for comment on this story. Daughter Stacey Gardner declined to comment.
In 2022, Belleville resident Chris “Lumpy” Landrum took an interest in the vacant unit, thinking it would be a nice place to live and knowing the developer had a reputation for top-quality construction.
The unit has a fireplace, brick facade in front, composite siding, a shake-shingle roof, wooded back yard, privacy fence and vibrant Japanese maple in front.
“I was hoping to buy it in in a short sale,” Landrum said, adding that he grew up on the west end and would take better care of the property than a real-estate investor “just riding a hot market.”
But Landrum said he faced hurdle after hurdle getting information from HUD. Then in early 2023, he began seeing the squatter, who moved in despite notices posted on windows by Guardian Asset Management, an agency contractor, that prohibited occupancy.
The woman stayed regularly at first then left for weeks at a time, Landrum said. He described the unit’s interior as going from clean and well-maintained to dirty and full of trash. Its windows are now covered with paper.
St. Clair County records show that the federal government has paid taxes on the property, but a private investor bought its delinquent-tax bill for 2022, so the party that redeems it will have to pay interest.
Different kind of squatting
Belleville has had problems in the past with squatters in chronically-derelict buildings, particularly in its historic downtown. City officials have determined that many are living on the street due to drug addiction or mental illness.
However, the situation at 7312 Foley Drive is different. The unit looked to be in good shape when it was first vacated, Landrum said. Reports by police and city officials obtained through the Freedom of Information Act request indicate the squatter has a vehicle and small children.
“There are a lot of professional squatters out there,” Landrum said. “They just move from place to place to place and never have to pay a dime of rent or living expenses. They’re not stupid.”
Tyler, the housing director, told the BND he went to the Foley Drive unit in February 2023, made contact with the squatter and notified her that she couldn’t legally live there without an occupancy permit.
The woman reportedly told Tyler she was a relative and caregiver for the deceased owner and promised she would go to the housing office to get a permit the next day, which didn’t happen, according to police reports and an email from Tyler to Chief Eiskant.
“Tyler then made contact with (the deceased owner’s) daughter, who said that she did not know this woman and had no idea why she was living in his house,” one police report stated.
Officers went to the unit in early March to issue the woman a citation for occupancy violations and reported that she opened the door but then closed it, purportedly to call Tyler, and never came back.
Around the same time, Tyler sent an email to Hoerner and Cueto, the city attorneys, asking what could be done to stop utility companies from turning on power and water for properties without occupancy permits.
“This is even happening at vacant houses where the person has no right to even be in the property and is squatting,” he wrote. “We have an ordinance on the books that says it is required. Is this not enforceable? Because it is sure making it very easy to avoid inspections or even squat in homes.”
Osthoff also weighed in on the issue in her December 2023 email, stating that the idea of a squatter getting utilities without an occupancy permit, much less legal tenancy, is “ludicrous.”
Patience wearing thin
By August 2023, it seemed that city patience was wearing thin with the situation at 7312 Foley Drive.
Cliff Cross, director of economic development, planning and zoning, sent emails to two HUD representatives, advising that city officials planned to contact Budzinski’s office due to the agency’s “lax approach” to the problem.
“(The unit) clearly has not been monitored, addressed or secured by HUD or their affiliated property management agency,” Cross wrote to representative John Nguyen on Aug. 30, 2023.
HUD representative Michael Pompa later conducted an inspection of the unit and determined it to be vacant, according to emails between him and Tyler. He sent a contractor to install new locks and post new notices prohibiting occupancy in early December 2023.
However, Tyler stopped by on Dec. 20, 2023, and discovered that the squatter had returned, replaced the locks with her own and removed the notices.
Illinois eviction laws are designed to protect tenants and others from being put out on the street at the whim of property owners, according to Noah Halpern, an attorney who specializes in housing issues with Land of Lincoln Legal Aid in East St. Louis.
“Whoever wants them out has to demonstrate that they’re the ones who have the superior right to possession,” he said.
The way property owners demonstrate that is to go through an eviction process in court, even when dealing with squatters, who may claim that their histories or relationships give them possession rights.
Ashlee Strong, a HUD spokeswoman in its Chicago regional office, declined to make anyone available for an interview regarding the Foley Drive unit. In an emailed statement, she reiterated the agency’s plan for an asset sale and addressed the squatter issue.
“Recently, the property was ‘adversely occupied’ with an unknown occupant,” the statement read. “The city has issued a notice to the ‘squatter,’ and HUD is actively engaged in the process of resecuring the property.”
Non-profit lawsuit
Neighbors at the Foley Drive complex have been wondering for months what was going on at 7312.
Some expressed concern about trash around the unit. Others mentioned that the intermittent female occupant has small children who play in the parking lot without adult supervision.
“I wish someone would do something,” said neighbor Julie Barnett. “It’s an eyesore. That’s the first thing I see when I pull in.”
West End Redevelopment Corp., which buys and renovates derelict buildings in west Belleville, may be the best hope for saving the Foley Drive unit from further deterioration.
The nonprofit organization is trying to take possession under the Illinois Abandoned Housing Rehabilitation Act. The law allows nonprofits to file lawsuits and get circuit courts to force owners of “nuisance” properties to bring them into compliance with local codes.
If owners decline, there’s a path for the organizations to take ownership. If the owners can’t be found, organizations can take temporary possession, do the renovations themselves and get reimbursed.
West End Redevelopment Corp. filed its “abatement of nuisance” case on April 1 in St. Clair County Circuit Court.
“It’s a dilapidated property, and it’s within our corridor,” said Board President Donna Veile. “A lot of people drive by that complex on Foley Drive. It’s very visible.”
The organization can’t participate in HUD asset sales because it isn’t a eligible bidder with at least $3 million in equity, according to Veile. Landrum isn’t eligible, either.
Landrum praised city officials and West End Redevelopment Corp. for monitoring the Foley Drive situation instead of letting it fall through the cracks. He blames the “mess” on the federal government.
“They’re going to package a couple hundred of those (loans) and sell them to some company with millions of dollars, and regular people can’t even bid on them,” he said. “It’s so unfair.”
Teri Maddox is a reporter with the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
