Business Mon Aug 27 2012

Travelers Find Welcome in Englewood

By Robert O'Connor

Englewood is usually said in hushed tones in conversation. It is regarded as one of the most unsafe places in Chicago, and if one reads the police blotter, it is hard not to come away with that impression. Despite its poor reputation, there are people still trying to make their way and bring people to the community, whether it's Kennedy King College or local businesses. One woman turned her grandmother's home into a place where travelers could come and stay for as little as $11/night. And they've come from all over the world.

Annie Wonsey runs one of the more popular Airbnb spots in Chicago. The website allows people to put apartments, rooms or even just couches up for rent by people who can't afford a hotel.

Wonsey, 45, has always been a traveler and found Airbnb while helping her sister save money in Europe. "I had Champagne taste with a Kool-Aid budget," as she put it. Since she started hosting in July 2011, she has been able to support herself with the money brought in by as many as 15 people at a time paying to live in her house. She made enough to leave her job as a secretary at Northwestern Hospital. She's able to spend more time with her guests, and take them out to eat, to movies, and to sites around the city. She's gotten 200 positive reviews from previous travelers, the vast majority of them positive and most of them giving her high praise.

The people staying there all said they were comfortable staying there, but that mentioning at work or school that they were staying in Englewood had gotten them a wide variety of reactions. Lawrence Pablo had been staying there for a month when I paid a visit to the house. He had come down from Butternut, WI. He works as a welder and his boss raised an eyebrow when he mentioned he lived in Englewood.


May Aunaetitrakul from Bangkok had been there for three months. She's a medical student doing her observing at Jackson Park Hospital. "During orientation, when they were asking where all of us lived I shouted 'Englewood!' very loudly and everyone fell silent," she said. Since then people have come up to her and told her she's either brave or crazy.

Stacey Flowers had been staying there for four weeks and had nothing but good things to say about it. "It's like coming home to family. And we do everything together." Flowers, originally from Omaha, was looking for a place when moving here and when she found a place in Rogers Park, she was told, "Don't move there, not that neighborhood. It's Robbers Park." 


Wonsey said that Englewood is unfairly portrayed as the place where most crimes happen. "In fact, every neighborhood has its places where crime is prominent and people avoid it. [One of] the two most common L stops to be mugged at is the Roosevelt Stop. What does that say?" Her house is in the police district that last year had 60 murders [PDF], more than any other police district.

The people who stay in Wonsey's house come from all over the world and all over the United States. They're attracted by the low prices and the high number of positive reviews. The local police, whose station is two blocks away from the house, have occasionally stopped guests on the sidewalk out of fear for their safety — though Wonsey says they've occasionally offered free rides to the L and lodging for concerned travelers. She says that police who are drawn from the community are friendlier, while the ones who commute in from elsewhere are not.

On more than one occasion, the police have swarmed her house and questioned her. One time they were concerned that she didn't have a license to run a bed and breakfast — the city municipal code defines them as a place with fewer than 11 rooms for rent. A hotel is a building with seven or more rooms for rent and involves a separate license.

Wonsey was cited last year for not having a license, as reported by Launch.com, but as of last month, she has not yet gotten a license. Airbnb states in its terms of use that it has no responsibility for whether the places listed on its website comply with local licensing rules.

Wonsey says the police have never gone after her because of her lack of a license, but because they are concerned that her house, and its availability for short-term stays, would bring people to Englewood and expose them to danger. "If they had approached me with some respect or were kind about providing a license I would have done so. But from the very beginning it was clear that this was racial profiling."

She also said she didn't trust the police. "After the three incidents, why would I get a license? Why would I pay for harassment from the police of my guests every time they walk to the corner? I'm not paying the city for that."

Airbnb states on its website that they only provide a way of setting up renting out rooms and that hosts are responsible for complying with local licensing laws. They do issue tax forms to their hosts that record how much they are paid.

During one of the altercations with the police — which she recorded and put up on Youtube — an officer says to her "This is a very dangerous neighborhood," and "You're running a business that's going to bring international people to this community, and they need to be safeguarded." She retorts, "Why did you put Kennedy-King College here? You paid $10 million to put it here to bring new people to the neighborhood." The college moved from 6800 S. Wentworth Ave. to 6301 S. Halsted St. in 2005.

Other popular Airbnb hosts in Chicago have not reported problems like this. Eric (last name withheld) has been hosting people in his River North apartment for a few years — and makes on average $1,500/month and has never had a problem with the police. Mejai Kai Dyson has been hosting people in his place in Bronzeville and has only had problems with two guests out of 100.

Airbnb has gotten people evicted, but it has also been touted as a way of stopping the foreclosure crisis. It's also brought people to Annie Wonsey's house, brought them to a neighborhood they would otherwise have never gone to. The city has spent millions trying to develop the neighborhood and it could be a sign that things are slowly — if reluctantly — starting to turn around.

Robert O'Connor is a co-editor at 3:AM Magazine and a regular contributor to Spike Magazine. His work has appeared in the Chi-Town Daily News, the Twin Cities Daily Planet, KFAI and elsewhere. He lives in Irving Park.