Mental Health Care Reform and Public Safety -- Demand Change at Albany Care

To:

• Illinois Department of Public Health
• Governor JB Pritzker
• State Representative Robyn Gabel
• State Senator Laura Fine
• Mayor Daniel Biss and the City of Evanston
• Evanston City Council
• Illinois Department of Human Services

We, the undersigned residents of Evanston, Illinois and surrounding communities, call for immediate, coordinated action to address the ongoing safety crisis involving Albany Care, located at 901 Maple Avenue.

Summary

Albany Care, a Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility located at 901 Maple Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, has been a persistent source of danger and disruption for both its residents and our shared community. Despite years of documented overdoses, violence, and criminal activity — including drug trafficking and public safety incidents affecting nearby schools, parks, families, and businesses — no meaningful action has been taken that has yielded long-term improvement.

We are calling for immediate and decisive intervention: an investigation into Albany Care’s admissions standards and caregiving practices, especially of its dual-diagnosis residents; an immediate moratorium on all new admissions to Albany Care while this investigation is conducted; the establishment of an independent oversight body to monitor quality of care; and a critical, evidence-based reassessment of statewide SMHRF regulations to ensure facilities are equipped to meet the needs of residents. 

This is not a rejection of mental health care — it is a demand for safe, accountable care for all. Our community cannot wait any longer.

👉 If you agree, we urge you to sign and share this petition to demand immediate action from state and local leaders. 

Do you have a personal story to share? Would you like to help us get the word out? Are you looking to report on this story? Please email Fitzsimonsneighbors@gmail.com.

Background

Albany Care is a Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility (SMHRF) that has been the focus of ongoing concerns from its residents, neighbors, law enforcement, local educators, first responders, and public health advocates. Despite a long and troubling history of incidents involving a subset of Albany Care residents and former residents — including drug dealing and overdoses, sexual assaults, battery, harassment, inappropriate interactions with minors, trespassing, theft from and property damage to local businesses, and the near-fatal stabbing of a resident by a former resident — the facility continues to operate without the oversight or reforms we believe are necessary to protect its residents and the broader community.

Of particular, urgent concern:

• Within the past three years, at least two Albany Care residents have died from drug overdoses after being found unresponsive within the facility, as detailed in police reports and death investigations. One of these deaths occurred on September 6, 2022, during the period in which Albany Care was operating on a Level Five restricted license. The second resident died in the hospital on June 12, 2023 after overdosing ten days prior.
• Between April 2024 and February 2025, the Evanston Police Department has conducted at least three major operations targeting narcotics traffickers selling drugs to Albany Care residents, resulting in the collective arrest of at least six suspects and the collective seizure of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), crack cocaine, as well as several handguns, vehicles, and thousands of dollars in cash.
  
  
• In three separate incidents occurring between April 18th and May 27, 2025, three Albany Care residents were arrested for battery, as cited in crime reports provided by the Evanston Police Department. On May 18th, 2025, an Albany Care resident was arrested for burglary.
  
  
• Following incidents on April 28, 2025 which targeted two local businesses, a former Albany Care resident was charged with one felony count of criminal damage to property and one felony count of burglary.
  
  
• EMS and police responses have remained high, with a clear increase correlating with the admission of dual-diagnosis residents. Despite a significant reduction in the Albany Care population since 2023 due to changes to occupancy rules, the facility continued to generate an average of one emergency call to the Evanston Fire Department every 2.5 days through the first eight months of 2024. (EMS data shows 99 emergency calls to Albany Care between January 1 - September 6, 2024, excluding calls coded as false, unintentional, malicious, or caused by malfunctioning equipment.) Analysis of separate police data cites 64 calls to police from Albany Care in 2024. This number does not include calls to other locations involving Albany Care residents, or calls to Albany Care involving reports of missing persons. 
  
  
• Neighbors have reported frequent instances of drug dealing, drug use, public intoxication, indecent exposure, public urination on the sidewalks/buildings, public defecation, fighting, threats, and harassment in surrounding public spaces. Neighbors have placed 911 calls to report unresponsive individuals near the facility. Many of these incidents have occurred in Grey Park, located across the street from Albany Care. Incidents have also occurred in Fitzsimons Park, which borders Nichols Middle School.  There are three District 65 schools in the vicinity of Albany Care: Nichols Middle, Park School, and Washington Elementary, as well as Pope John XXIII School (Pre-K through 8).
  
  
• Local journalists have detailed the extensive history of accusations by Albany Care residents and former staff alleging neglect and improper care, including failure to administer medication, insufficient staffing, and concerns for personal safety. (See the Additional Resources section below for a selection of this reporting.)
  
  
• Local business owners in the Main-Dempster Mile district have expressed repeated concerns about behaviors such as criminal destruction of property, vandalism, theft, drug dealing and buying, public intoxication, and disturbing the peace. These behaviors threaten the livelihoods of small business owners, the safety of their employees, and the ability of neighbors, including other Albany Care residents, to freely and safely support these businesses. 

We are not attributing all unsafe behavior in the neighborhood to Albany Care residents. Yet it is also clear, based on police and EMS reports, in-depth reporting by local journalists, and the day-to-day observations of Albany Care residents and neighbors, that the conditions within and around Albany Care act as a magnet for unsafe and unlawful behavior, and that Albany Care exerts an outsized impact on the surrounding community. Too often, efforts to mitigate these impacts have been ineffective, inconsistent, or short-term in their implementation. 

This is not a complaint about providing mental health care in our community, nor is it an attempt to stigmatize the recipients of that vital care. Rather, this is a call for safe, ethical, and accountable care. We believe that Albany Care, as it currently operates, risks the well-being of its own residents, places an unacceptable burden on first responders, and compromises the safety of businesses, families and children in surrounding neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Map Including a Sample of Incidents and Trends

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Demand:

1. A state-level investigation into Albany Care’s admissions standards and caregiving practices, especially as they pertain to dual-diagnosis residents.
   
   
2. The immediate downgrading of Albany Care’s operating license that places a moratorium on all new admissions to the facility while this investigation is conducted.
   
   
3. The establishment of an independent, public oversight body with real authority to monitor and enforce safety, care quality, and community accountability at Albany Care, with specific attention given to admissions processes and data points such as the number of involuntary discharges. This oversight body should include city officials, state agencies, Albany Care residents, neighborhood representatives, and mental health experts, and must ensure ongoing transparency and responsiveness. As part of its mandate, it should require monthly public reporting of police, EMS, and safety-related incidents involving Albany Care, made accessible to residents and local stakeholders.
   
   
4. An evidence-based reassessment of the state’s SMHRF guidelines to ensure that requirements meet the complex care needs of SMHRF residents with substance use disorders. This review should be conducted by independent, qualified mental health professionals with demonstrated expertise in dual-diagnosis care and access to current clinical research. To ensure impartiality, participants must have no current or past ties to SMHRF operators, ownership entities, affiliates, agents, or lobbyists.

Why This Matters

We believe in supporting mental health recovery. We believe in providing a safe and welcoming community for recipients of mental health care services. We also recognize that substance use disorder constitutes a distinct and critical medical need, particularly when combined with a concurrent diagnosis of mental illness. Effective treatment requires specialized interventions and environments. It is irresponsible, and arguably negligent, to place dual diagnosis residents in facilities that are not designed or equipped to provide this crucial care. 

Neighbors and local officials have taken many steps to try to improve the conditions within and around Albany Care, including: engaging in outreach to Albany Care residents in efforts to make them feel welcome in our shared community; participating in regular meetings with Albany Care representatives to address safety concerns; calling and writing the facility to report dangerous behavior that involves Albany Care residents or threatens Albany Care residents; placing frequent 911 calls to report medical emergencies, drug dealing, assaults, substance use, harassment, trespassing, and destruction of property.

Despite these efforts, the situation continues to be dangerous and unsustainable. Historically, it has been far too easy for state and local officials and representatives in both the private and public spheres to claim that they have limited ability to effect change. For the safety and security of our community, including our vulnerable neighbors who live at Albany Care, this state of bureaucratic limbo must be resolved. We need accountability. We need action. We need reform. Now.

This reform should be guided by an independent and unbiased team of mental health care experts, free from the influence of SMHRF owner/operators or their representatives, lawyers, or lobbyists. This direction will help ensure that regulations are based on current research, relevant science, and compassionate caregiving practices rather than such factors as profit maximization, bureaucratic expediency, or political influence. 

We are not seeking to generalize about the quality of care at all SMHRFs. That said, when even one SMHRF is allowed to operate with such a well-documented, troubling history, it reflects negatively on the entire SMHRF system, and on the quality of taxpayer-funded, government-regulated mental health care in the state of Illinois.

Call to Action

Add your name to this petition to demand immediate action from state and local leaders. 

Albany Care residents deserve a safe, secure, carefully regulated environment that supports their rehabilitative care and offers a chance at lasting recovery. They deserve evidence-based care and programming that prioritizes public health over private profits.

Our children deserve safe sidewalks, safe parks, and safe schools.

Our city and first responders deserve to focus their time, energy, and resources on other pressing issues, rather than subsidizing the operations of a for-profit enterprise which socializes its costs and privatizes its profits. 

Our community cannot afford further delays. We call upon state and local leaders to take responsibility and act decisively to protect the safety and well-being of all those impacted.

This petition is not a rejection of care. It is a demand for better care — for everyone.

We urge you to sign and share this petition to show your support for meaningful reform, greater oversight, and a safer, healthier Evanston for everyone.

Additional Resources

Neighbors Continue to Express Concerns About Albany Care Resident Interaction at Proposed Dog Park (Evanston RoundTable, 5/8/2025)​

Suspect Arrested in Wine Goddess, La Principal Incidents​

Officials Update 4th Ward Residents on Albany Care (Evanston RoundTable, 10/17/2024)​

Narcotics Investigation Results in Two Arrests (EPD press release, 10/15/2024)​

Police to Increase Patrols Near Albany Care (Evanston Now 7/10/24)​

Operation Main Event (EPD press release, April 27, 2024)​

Albany Care Resident Faces Weapons Charge (Evanston Now, 11/10/23)​

Albany Care Resident Accused of Sexually Assaulting Another Resident (Evanston RoundTable 10/17/23)​

Who Has Oversight of Albany Care? (Evanston RoundTable, 8/30/23)​

After stabbing, Albany Care Says It’s Addressed Issues, Disputes Nieuwsma’s Message to Neighbors (Evanston RoundTable 8/24/23)​

Victim Critically Injured After Stabbing Outside Albany Care (Evanston RoundTable, 8/19/2023)​

Beating, Robbery Attempt at Albany Care Sends Man, 50, to Hospital (Evanston Patch, 3/31/2023)​

Albany Care Nears Settlement With Illinois Department of Public Health (The Daily Northwestern, 11/15/2022)​

In Focus: A Crisis of Care (The Daily Northwestern, 11/14/2022)​

‘It Was Headed for Disaster,’ Says Former Albany Care Staffer (Evanston RoundTable, 4/28/2022)​

Inside Albany Care: Daily Calls to Police, Residents Report Neglect (Evanston RoundTable, 12/12/21)​

Owners – But Not in Charge (Chicago Tribune, 10/1/2009)