Forty-seven families, seventy-two hours

Angle. The largest single-week eviction wave in Pilsen since 2019. Building owner Rivera Holdings issued 47 30-day notices between May 5–7. City housing dept declines comment. We have signed declarations from 12 of the 47 families.

What's new. First reporting on Rivera Holdings' 2024 acquisition pattern. Tenant rights lawyer Sandra Ortega confirms this scale is "without precedent" in the neighborhood.

Outline: Lede → Rivera background → eviction process → city response → tenant voices → broader pattern → ending kicker.

"You couldn't believe what was happening on your own block," said Rivera Holdings CEO David Rivera in a statement issued Monday afternoon, calling the eviction notices "necessary business decisions in a tough market." But for the families on 18th Street, the decisions felt less business than ambush.

Maria Aguilar found her notice taped to her door on a Tuesday afternoon. She had thirty days. Her two children attend Whittier Elementary, four blocks east.

Forty-seven Pilsen families received 30-day eviction notices over a 72-hour stretch last week — the largest single-week displacement in the neighborhood since 2019, according to housing court records reviewed by Block Club Chicago.