Mildred Richardson, a tenant of the Harper Square Cooperative building for the past 55 years, has relocated three times to temporary dwellings since her unit was damaged in a deadly building fire in January.

She’s one of more than 100 residents who were displaced by the Jan. 25 fire at 4850 S. Lake Park Ave., which killed one resident and injured eight others.

“It’s a horror that started and has been causing one problem after another for a year,” Richardson said. “You think ‘Okay, I got insurance, I can go stay somewhere else.’ But then there’s this problem and that problem.”

Eleven months later, during a press conference on Dec. 11, Richardson says she still hasn’t been able to move back into her apartment, nor has she heard from building ownership when she might be able to.

Now, in search of her fourth place to live while she awaits repairs, Richardson said she’s struggling to find a “clean, safe and economical” apartment. What’s more, with her renters insurance due to run out at the end of January, Richardson said she’s nervous to find a place she’ll be able to afford in time.

The deadly fire started on the 15th floor of the 25-story cooperative building from a resident smoking in a bedroom, the Chicago Fire Department said. It spread upwards through nine floors of the building, killing the resident.

Following the fire, the city’s Department of Buildings temporarily closed the eastern wing of the building, citing a need for repairs due to fire, smoke and water damage. The closure, which displaced people who occupied 133 units, is ongoing with no end in sight.

Denise Loggins, who was a 44-year resident of the building, has been staying with her sister and brother-in-law in Beverly since the fire. There, she’s using the funds from her renters insurance to contribute to utility costs.

“They’ve been wonderful to me, but I’m grown and I’ve been used to having my own place,” Loggins said. “I like the area, that’s one of the reasons why I’ve stayed here that long, it’s because it’s convenient. I don’t drive, so this is all convenient for me.”

For three months following the fire and her forced evacuation Loggins said she was billed for electricity, despite not being in her unit. On Monday, she said she’s still trying to get the co-op’s management to cover these costs.

Carolyn Baynham, who had just moved into the building with her husband in November of last year, is now living at the Flamingo Apartments, 5500 S. Shore Dr. Though her rent was initially covered by her insurance, it has since run out. Now, she’s paying an amount almost twice her co-op rent out-of-pocket.

“I didn’t think I would be gone more than three to six months,” Baynham said, noting that she and her husband are retired pensioners living on a fixed income.

“This was a place where we thought we were going to come spend whatever time we had left in a quiet community in a building that was well kept,” she said. Her husband, who is disabled, had to call 911 on the day of the fire to get out of the building. He was then admitted to the hospital, where he had to undergo heart surgery, something Baynham attributes to the stress of the experience.

Days after the fire, two members of a clean-up crew were charged with stealing $19,000 in cash and jewelry from a unit.

In May, as repairs progressed, evacuated residents were allowed back into the building to remove belongings from their units. Since early June, nobody’s been back in.

“They haven’t told us anything,” Baynham said of building management. “Just give me information I can deal with. But it has not been forthcoming, it has not been transparent enough for me.”

Alongside the building’s closure, the city also filed a lawsuit against the cooperative for unresolved building code violations in January. As of Dec. 11, the lawsuit is ongoing.

“It’s a lot of passing the ball around and not telling us anything, and to me that is very dismissive,” she added. “What happens when the one-year lease that I have is out and they haven’t told me that I can move back in?”

Building management declined to speak with the Herald.