CHICAGO, IL — Tenants at Oglesby Towers in South Shore say a bed bug problem has spread through apartments on at least five floors and into the building’s laundry room, adding to frustration over utility charges that residents say have become harder and harder to predict. Some tenants say they have been asking for treatment since April, but the building has not been treated.
The complaints come as residents continue pressing TLC Management over the Ratio Utility Billing System, or RUBS, which they say has produced monthly bills that swing wildly from one month to the next. Tenants at the 191-unit high-rise, 6700 S. Oglesby Ave., say the system has made it difficult to budget and has become especially stressful for people living on fixed incomes.
Residents say sightings now include apartments, halls and the laundry room
Several tenants say the problem is no longer limited to one unit. Photos reviewed by the Herald show what appear to be bed bugs in apartments and in the laundry room, and residents say they have also been spotted in lint traps. One tenant, who asked that her first name not be published, said she first noticed what she believed was a bed bug in an elevator a couple of months ago.
That same resident, Mrs. Foster, said the elevator sighting made her worry the insects had already reached common areas and nearby hallways. She said other tenants have reported seeing the pests in their beds and in other parts of the building. For residents, the concern is not just about bites, but about how quickly the insects can move from one apartment to another in a high-rise setting.
Tenants say repeated work orders have not led to extermination
Foster said residents have filed work orders about bed bugs since April, but management has not treated the building. She said maintenance workers who responded to complaints said they found no evidence of infestation, while tenants continued reporting bites and sightings. Some residents have paid for exterminators on their own after those visits, she said.
Foster said she is familiar with how quickly owners are generally expected to act when a building has bed bugs, since she works in housing. In her view, the delay is making the problem worse rather than better. “When management’s not doing anything about it, it’s prolonging a solution,” she said.
City code requires owners to provide pest control services until no evidence of bed bugs can be found and verified. The Chicago Department of Buildings says residents with concerns about building conditions can call 311.
The utility fight that brought tenants together is still unresolved
The infestation reports surfaced about a month after tenants organized a union and demanded changes to the building’s utility billing practices. Their main complaint is RUBS, a system that divides certain utility costs among tenants using factors such as unit size and occupancy rather than individual use. Residents say that has led to bills that change sharply from month to month.
Many tenants say the unpredictability has made it difficult to manage household budgets. Foster said her charges under RUBS have reached nearly $500 in a single month, on top of her $1,425 rent. She said the rising bills have made it harder for her to move into a two-bedroom apartment with her daughter and have created new worries about housing stability.
Management response keeps RUBS in place and trims only part of the amenity charge
In early September, tenants received an email that responded to some of their demands, according to a copy reviewed by the Herald. The sender was not named, but wrote on behalf of building management. The message said RUBS would stay in place, though management was working with YES Energy to look for ways to reduce utility costs.
The email also said the building’s trash chutes would remain closed. Management did agree to waive a $20 monthly valet trash fee that tenants said was included in a $75 amenity charge. The remaining $55 covers Xfinity internet service. But the email did not address the tenants’ central request: a meeting with CEO Stuart Handler to negotiate an end to RUBS.
The union says the unanswered demand is a direct meeting with the CEO
Tenant organizers say their main goal has not changed. Foster said residents wanted a sit-down with Handler to negotiate directly and remove RUBS entirely, but that request was not met. She said the response they received left the basic billing system intact while offering only limited concessions on other fees.
For Foster, the trash charge became a turning point. She said she was billed to take out her own garbage and immediately questioned why tenants were being charged for that service. That complaint helped push her to join the union effort, which now ties together concerns about utilities, fees and building conditions.
City records show one earlier complaint but no access to the unit
City records show the Department of Buildings received a bed bug complaint last October involving a 12th-floor apartment. An inspector went to the building, but records show the inspector could not get access to the unit. That earlier complaint is the only specific city record cited in the building files.
TLC Management did not respond to a request for comment. The city’s Department of Public Health also had not responded by press time. A Department of Buildings spokesperson said the agency remains committed to responding to complaints and making sure buildings follow code. For tenants at Oglesby Towers, though, the problems they describe are still unfolding in real time.
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