LGBTQ+ activist and a “founder” of the Town Hall senior housing project in Chicago is on track for eviction from the complex he helped create.
Don Bell, 75, was recently served with an eviction notice stemming from multiple arrests of his husband. His husband was barred from the building after allegedly committing several crimes, including robbing one of the residents.
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Bell has been given until April 6 to clear his belongings from his apartment.
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“How do you take the guy who’s contributed the most during the existence of the residency and kick him out?” Bell asked in an interview with Block Club Chicago.
Bell has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for legal assistance.
The longtime activist and former college administrator was a key figure in creating the Town Hall Apartments, Chicago’s first LGBTQ+ senior housing complex, which opened in 2014.
The project transformed a former police station on Halstead St. into a six-story residential and retail complex developed by Heartland Housing Inc. in partnership with the Center on Halsted, which offers on-site programs and services for residents.
The 79-unit development serves residents 55 and older and provides rental assistance through a Chicago Housing Authority voucher program.
Bell worked closely with property developer Heartland Alliance, the city, and other stakeholders to shape the vision for what would become Town Hall. He’s continued his advocacy for housing rights, health care access, and other social causes from his apartment at the complex.
Now, Bell’s relationship with new management threatens his place in the community he helped create.
“My husband is neurodivergent and was born with a disability,” Bell said of his partner, Austin Ashenfelter, 28, whom Bell met at Town Hall last year when Ashenfelter was visiting a fellow resident.
“He was born to a dysfunctional family,” Bell said. “His mother lost custody of all six of her children. The schools failed him, the system failed him, and now this.”
Tiffany Moore, director of operations with 5T Management, the new company managing Town Hall, declined to cite the original issue that got Ashenfelter banned from the complex. But police have been called twice since then, resulting in Ashenfelter’s arrest for violating a trespass restriction against him.
In between court dates last summer stemming from the arrests, Bell and Ashenfelter got married. When the couple returned to Chicago, Bell discovered his key fob didn’t work.
“It was deprogrammed,” Bell said. “I was locked out.”
“Meanwhile, it’s created this hostile community in the building,” Bell said of management’s campaign against him.
Adding to the case against Bell, Ashenfelter was later charged with felony burglary after surveillance footage captured him attempting to charge his phone in a Town Hall resident’s car in the parking garage.
Ashenfelter pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor as part of a plea deal to avoid violating his probation for the earlier arrests.
Ultimately, 5T Management filed an eviction notice for Bell, stating he’s responsible for Ashenfelter’s criminal behavior, which they say compromised security and safety at the complex.
“This is not something we wanted to do,” 5T’s Moore said. “We really did work at trying to have him cure the issues we have, but, unfortunately, they did not get cured in the time they needed to be done. That’s the only reason why now we are in eviction court.”
Bell said if he isn’t out of his apartment by April 6, a housing court judge will automatically rule against him, strip him of his housing subsidy, and order his removal with the help of the county sheriff.
Moore said if Bell complies with the eviction order, they’ll drop the case against him, and he can keep his housing subsidy — for use at a facility other than Town Hall.
“I’m hoping if I can get adequate legal support that somebody will be able to stay this decision,” Bell said.
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