A former tenant of a Project NOW-run rental property is speaking out over what she feels was an unfair eviction that’s left her and her children homeless.
Nichole Collins-Payney was recently evicted from her Project NOW apartment at the Old Chicago complex, 1226 4th Ave., Rock Island.
She moved there about 10 years ago, following her divorce, with two small children (who are now 17 and 19), in a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, and at the time the rent was $465 a month.
She was then working part-time at Churches United, sang in a band, and had her own graphic design business. Before she was evicted for non-payment of rent, her monthly payment was $525. The market rate for an equivalent apartment is over $1,000 a month, Collins-Payney said.
She worked for the Unitarian Universalist church in Davenport for six years, was the office manager, and was let go last December.
She had a lot of big expenses last year, including her son’s high school graduation party, helping pay tuition for him to attend Coe College, and to cover uninsured dental work.
Collins-Payney had her child tax credit cut once he turned 18, and she is on Medicaid. Her ex-husband’s child support also was cut from $600 to $57 a month.
“Then I got it up to $129, and he doesn't pay that. He waits until the end of the year and pays it in one lump sum for two children,” she said. “I could not afford to pay rent or my car or nothing. I couldn't pay anything.”
Last February, she got a new job as office manager at Quad City Custom Signs. “I’m only making $50 more in my paycheck working full-time than I was working part-time at the church. It's so super frustrating.”
Collins-Payney said her kids get kicked off Medicaid when they turn 18, so she has to pay health expenses for them out of pocket.
“I'm not one of these people who tries to work the system,” she said. “And I think this is what dawned on me, why 17 and 18-year-old girls get pregnant in high school. So they can get benefits. That's why they do it. Because they can't get benefits any other way.”
“So I got my job. I talked to the landlord, and during the time that I could not pay, I went to them,” said Collins-Payney, noting she was denied rent assistance from Project NOW.
She said she couldn’t make rent payments from April to December 2025, totaling $4,700, but said she paid consistently this year.
She was first served with eviction papers July 17th, but said she’d been regularly paid her rent in 2026.
“I'm just dumbfounded because this is Project NOW. So I know it's retaliation, but I can't prove it because I owe the money,” Collins-Payney said, noting she had maintenance problems that weren’t fixed, including an infestation of mice.
She wrote to Project NOW on June 9 outlining her concerns.
“For the most part – I have tried my very best to take care of the property and pay my rent every month without fail until I fell on a serious hard time in my life last year,” her letter said, noting she was rejected for rent assistance.
Collins-Payney said her apartment had plumbing and electrical problems that weren’t properly fixed, and on June 9, she said maintenance staff entered her home unannounced, which she called “completely unacceptable.”
“All I am asking for is dignity, respect and understanding,” her letter said. “Reconsideration of the Rent Assistance would only be right and fair, repairs to my unit when it is communicated and not to have people just walking in and out of my house unannounced. That is trespassing and a violation – and creepy.”
“I talked to my neighbors after I've gone through the court proceedings, and I'm thinking, this is not real,” she recalled in late August, noting she also reached out to Rev. Dwight Ford, Project NOW’s executive director. “I go to Dwight Ford's church and it just so happens that the steeple fell off his church. So they had church at his wife's cafe. So I go, I had written him a letter. I said, hey, this is happening. I'm not sure if you're aware. Because I know him. He knows me.”
“He was very aware. Very aware,” she said, noting the apartments are subsidized by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA). “Knew the whole time. They didn't want the money. They wanted me out.” Ford never responded to her.
“They're saying it's because they can't let somebody stay there and not pay rent, but I was paying rent,” she said. “They're saying it's because IHDA needs to buckle up and not let anyone not pay the rent. Well then, if that was the case, you would have evicted me 8 months ago or a year ago.”
“I talked to my other neighbors, and they're like, yeah, they slapped it. They're doing it to all the other neighbors too,” Collins-Payney said. “They're asking for next month's rent, and it's not even the next month yet. They want the rent in advance, but for what? Nobody knows.”
“It's absolutely retaliation,” she said of why she was evicted. “How can I prove that when I owed money? But now the rest of the tenants don't, and they're doing it to them too.”
Another Old Chicago tenant (who didn’t want to be identified out of fear of retaliation) said he’s had similar maintenance issues, including a longtime kitchen sink faucet that leaks and hasn’t been fixed.
“General things like we needed – I asked to put in the paint, they ain't done it,” the neighbor said Monday, Sept. 7. “To clean the carpet, they ain't done it. They just basically don't want— they don't come in to really do nothing.”
The tenant pays $550 a month rent and is occasionally late, and has received notices to pay within five days. His hours at work were reduced three months ago and he finds it hard to make rent.
He’s thought about moving to another apartment complex, but said he can’t afford it.
“But I haven't did anything because it's like right now, I actually lost almost $1,000 in income because my job hours got cut,” he said, noting his wife can’t work because she has health issues and can’t stand for any long periods.
He also has heard maintenance complaints from other neighbors.
Vacated apartment by Aug. 31
Collins-Payney had to be out of her apartment by Aug. 31, and she found an acquaintance that offered her storage space to live in for the time being. She left beds and furniture in her old unit since she couldn’t afford to store them.
She said a court may reverse or modify a final eviction order if the agreement to accept arrears was made in good faith and the tenant complied with the terms.
“They could absolutely have accepted or negotiated me paying what I owed and staying in the property this week after the order was entered, and then we submit the agreement to the court to rescind the order,” she said before Aug. 31. “We could have done that this week. His reply was, as I indicated previously, an eviction order has already been entered by the court and we are obligated to follow the court's order and the applicable legal requirements. Because of that, I'm not able to authorize agreements that would alter the outcome that has been ordered through the legal process.”
Collins-Payney said Project NOW’s whole mission is to prevent homelessness and serve the unhoused population in the area. They recently held their 3rd-annual Housing Summit in downtown Rock Island.
“Project NOW is refusing to negotiate, accept payment, and allow my family— a family to remain in our home within the time frame allotted to submit to court to modify or rescind the order,” Collins-Payney said. “This is well within your power to do so. This is your mission. This is what you stand on. This is what you advocate in the community for, to keep people housed.”
“I’m trying with every ounce, grasping at every thread, to work with you to keep my family in our home,” she said of Project NOW. “You absolutely have the power to say yes to me, negotiate a payment, and allow us to remain housed. Once again, if I'm being clear, you are refusing to do so.”
“I do not want to make this an attack. I want to raise concerns as to how this could happen,” she added. “How does this happen after this was a safe haven for me? I mean, I ran from a domestic situation 10 years ago.”
“Everything that their mission stood for, they delivered. They were that for me,” Collins-Payney said, noting she has chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. “And then to all of a sudden turn around and be the monster. It's triggering everything all over again. I don't think they understand what they're doing when they do something like this. How can you say that you are a protector?”
“And my children also have some of these same things from the divorce and from COVID and from things. And so when the place that you're supposed to call home…They do this, and for what reason other than what seems to be a retaliatory move?”
“Because for 8 months they never did anything. They never gave a warning,” she added. “I didn't think I was going to make it. I didn't think I was going to survive any of it. And for them to kick me out because I wanted a safe place to live. I don't understand it.”
“I don't understand. Not when I'm doing my best to make it all work,” Collins-Payney said. “I really want answers.”
“Especially from them, because they're advocates for people like me,” she said of Project NOW. “They're advocates. For people like me. For single mothers. For homeless. Now I'm homeless. I'm a statistic."
E-mail exchanges with Project NOW
Project NOW chief operating officer Ron Lund said by email Aug. 28:
“All eviction cases through the 14th Judicial Circuit Court are required to go through mediation. Project NOW helped design the mediation process as part of the Eviction Diversion Program, created during COVID. This case went through this process, went to trial, and Project NOW was awarded the unit. Project NOW has not sought the significant rental arrears that is owed as part of this case.
“We do not make eviction decision on a whim as we understand the result may be someone being homeless,” Lund said.
“Project NOW continues to offer rental assistance and first month’s deposit for anyone needing assistance," he said, noting applications can be completed online at projectnow.org.
Collins-Payney emailed Lund on Aug. 25:
“I have been a responsible tenant at Old Chicago for almost 10 years. When I have raised concerns it's because I genuinely want to keep the property in good condition so you have a unit to show (mine is the one consistently used) when IHDA inspections are performed. I take pride in keeping a nice home, raising my family well, staying to myself and being fiscally responsible.”
“I tried to get help from your programs. And despite being denied, I was actively doing my best to catch up,” she wrote. “I can have everything paid in full by December of this year on my own accord - not asking Project NOW for any assistance. If you will allow, I can make a substantial payment now to stay and only be two months behind. It will deplete my children's savings (one in college and one a high school senior), but we have committed to doing that to maintain our home.
“Losing our home would be a devastating blow to both of them at this point in their lives -- especially Ninah,” she wrote. “I have been raising them alone - with no financial help - all this time and they are successful individuals. I have been able to do that because of the stability of being at Project NOW's property.
“This was my safe haven I ran to from a horrific domestic situation and have spent years recovering. I won't go into the issues I deal with, but I have never taken for granted the blessing it is to be living there, and don't understand what happened that would make our agreement null and void and cause such drastic action against me and my family.
“I implore you to consider accepting payment for us to stay in our home. Otherwise - we will be the homeless you speak of in your workshops and symposiums. We will be included in the statistics in your displays - because my income does not afford me to relocate anywhere else. I have looked. Diligently. I have looked for apartments and for jobs - daily. There aren't any. I've even tried to create jobs/income opportunities and failed at that. I have tried. I am great with money. I have stretched two dollars to raise two children for ten years. However - I am very realistic and know when I am defeated.
“You've won. I will volunteer, I will donate design and/or administrative services. Tell me what it is you need for me to do to keep our home - and I will do that. All I need is a Yes from you that we can, in fact, stay. Because we have nowhere else to go.”
Lund replied on Aug. 25 that an eviction order was entered by the court, and “we are obligated to follow the court's order and the applicable legal requirements,” he said by email. “Because of that, I am not able to authorize arrangements that would alter the outcome that has been ordered through the legal process.
“I appreciate the effort you have made to address the balance and your willingness to make additional payments,” he wrote to Collins-Payney. “However, decisions regarding occupancy can no longer be resolved outside of the court process.”
Lund told her the “court process has been completed, and a court order has been entered.”
“Our position remains unchanged and we will not enter into any agreement that would alter or circumvent the outcome ordered by the court,” he wrote.
Old Chicago apartments in Rock Island have 11 units, designed for low-income families and individuals with disabilities.
Project NOW's Housing Division in its capacity as a Community Development Corporation directs both single and multi-family rental property development. Project NOW has developed over 100 residential and commercial spaces serving people with low incomes throughout Rock Island, Henry and Mercer counties.
Project NOW along with private and public sector partners has been developing rental properties for over 20 years.
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