Yvette Thomas is still climbing stairs she cannot safely climb. After Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson visited her Grand Boulevard apartment building and promised the city would act, the 70-year-old says conditions inside 4725 S. Michigan Avenue remain unsafe, and the elevator she depends on to get in and out of the building is still not working.
Thomas has lived in the five-story building since leaving a nursing home three years ago specifically because it had a working elevator, according to FOX 32 Chicago, which first reported on her situation two weeks before this latest update. She has health challenges that make getting in and out of the building difficult, and she says she is still waiting to see meaningful changes on the ground despite the public promises made in her name.
A city inspection in September turned up 47 additional housing violation entries at the address, according to city inspection records, spanning missing smoke alarms, pest infestation, electrical and plumbing problems, and general building maintenance issues. The same inspection documented 13 elevator-related violation entries, including red tag status, fire service testing failures, smoke devices, emergency equipment problems, and an oil leak.
A Building With a Troubled Past
The building is owned by MD Chicago Holdings LLC, which has a Brooklyn mailing address, with Regalshore Property Management handling day-to-day operations, per the station's earlier reporting. A review of 68 pages of city records found more than 300 references to elevator compliance issues at the address, along with at least two dozen violations logged since the current ownership took over, including 14 references to mice and five to roaches.
The property's troubles predate the current owner by years. A 2019 opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit detailed how the building had once been central to a federal mortgage fraud scheme involving 35 fraudulent condo loan applications, affirming civil liability against an attorney tied to the straw-buyer operation. Some inspection records tied to the address stretch back long before the current ownership purchased the property in 2023, underscoring how deep the building's maintenance problems run.
City Inspectors Are Stretched Thin
The department has roughly 20 residential housing inspectors tasked with monitoring hundreds of thousands of rental units across the city, a gap that Ald. Bill Conway, who represents Chicago's 34th Ward, says leaves the city badly under-resourced.
Conway said additional inspectors would likely pay for themselves through enforcement fines. That staffing strain lines up with a separate analysis by the Better Government Association, which found reductions in several inspector titles in the proposed 2025 budget.
The consequences of that gap extend well beyond one South Side address. An August 2024 investigation by Injustice Watch found that while the Department of Buildings conducts more than 15,000 inspections resulting in code violations annually, enforcement can be difficult and time-consuming.
Elevator Left Under Red Tag Rules
Elevator violations have been reported at 4725 S. Michigan Avenue. Catholic Charities, which subsidizes Thomas's housing, inspected conditions in her unit and notified management that repairs were needed, according to the station's reporting. The landlord was given 15 days to make repairs.
Alderman Pat Dowell, whose 3rd Ward includes the building, called the apartment “disgusting.” Mayor Johnson promised the city would intervene. Thomas has questioned the purpose of that promise, saying she is still waiting for the changes it was supposed to bring.
A New Apartment, But Still Not Home
Catholic Charities has helped Thomas find a new subsidized apartment elsewhere in Chicago, which she describes as a penthouse. But she cannot move in until she covers an $875 move-in fee, and she has launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking donations to cover the moving costs.
Thomas says she prays for someone to help her. Until the move happens, she remains in the same building, still telling reporters that the elevator is not working and that getting in and out of her home continues to put her at risk.
