It’s criminal.
Local government has known about this for months and, best as I can find, has done nothing.
Haven’t gone after the slum lords.
Haven’t declared the place uninhabitable and removed the tenants.
My bet is that there’s money to be made and that both the owners and local bureaucrats are planning on making some without appearing to get their hands dirty while doing so.
Sounds like some of the Ch!tcago properties ValJar owned.