Politics
City Officials Want to Step Up Protections for Renters. Here’s What to Know About the Competing Proposals
Video: Joining “Chicago Tonight” are Michael Glasser, president of the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance; Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward), lead sponsor of the rival proposal; Jung Yoon, chief of policy in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office; and Roderick Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center. (Produced by Andrew Montequin)
Both Mayor Brandon Johnson and his harshest critics on the Chicago City Council agree: Rent is too high in Chicago.
But that’s pretty much all they agree on, as two rival proposals to change Chicago’s rules governing property owners and renters barrel toward a duel.
Here’s a breakdown of what the two proposals would do and what’s at stake.
What prompted Johnson to try to rewrite the city’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance?
The main law that governs the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants was approved in 1986 and hasn’t been significantly changed since 2020.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic waned, demand for apartments in Chicago — especially in neighborhoods close to public transportation, jobs and shops — has soared, allowing landlords to impose new fees and steep rent increases. Bidding wars have erupted, forcing renters to offer more than the asking price to beat out other would-be tenants.
Johnson’s proposal seeks to shift the balance of power toward renters by imposing new fees and requirements on landlords. That will give the city the ability to crack down on “slum lords” and even the playing field for Chicagoans looking for a safe place to live, officials said.
Why did that proposal set off a political fight?
The mayor and his critics agree there’s a severe shortage of housing for working-class Chicagoans and agree that elected officials must do more to make living in the city more affordable.
That is expected to be a major issue in next year’s election, and could decide the balance of power at City Hall, as all 50 seats on the City Council are up for grabs and the mayor is running for a second term.
That prompted Johnson’s critics on the City Council as well as landlord groups and the city’s business community to quickly craft their own proposal to rewrite the city’s laws, saying Johnson’s proposal would only make rents in Chicago more expensive without solving the real problem: the lack of housing.
Rents won’t decrease until the supply of all kinds of housing in Chicago increases, according to the mayor’s critics, so the city shouldn’t do anything that could make it less likely new homes, apartments and condominiums will be built in Chicago.
How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Chicago?
The average rent in Chicago jumped 5.8% during the past year, with the median rent topping $2,100 per month, according to real estate data provider Zumper. That’s 12% higher than the national average, according to the firm.
That’s making it hard for some Chicagoans to stay in the neighborhoods they love — and pushing out long-time residents struggling to make ends meet.
Approximately 622,000 Chicagoans lease their homes, and 40% spend more than a third of their take-home pay on rent, according to city officials.
What exactly would the mayor’s proposal do?
It would enshrine a tenant bill of rights into city law and establish a Bureau of Rental Housing Services, with 28 employees, within the Department of Housing.
Those employees would have the authority to enforce the ordinance and crack down on landlords who break the rules, officials said. Tenants facing eviction or retaliation from their landlords would get free legal help, according to the proposal.
The proposal would also ban move-in and move-out fees, derided by Johnson as “junk fees.”
In addition, the revised ordinance would require the owner of every rental property in the city to identify themselves to city officials. Officials have said some of the city’s worst landlords create shell companies that make it impossible to hold them accountable for violations.
The new bureau would also help landlords navigate the city’s rules, give them an opportunity to correct violations before enforcement actions can be taken and help resolve disputes with their tenants before they trigger an eviction and costly court proceedings.
The current law does not apply to owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units. The mayor’s proposal would expand the law to include those units, while waving the per-unit fee for the owners of buildings with fewer than six units if one is occupied by the building’s owner, officials said.
The mayor’s proposal is supported by the Metropolitan Tenants Organization, the city’s largest renters’ rights group.
How would the city pay for the changes backed by the mayor?
The mayor’s proposal would require most landlords to pay fees of at least $20 and no more than $60 per unit per year to generate $22 million and fund the new bureau, which will include 12 new positions once it is fully implemented, according to the proposal. The largest landlords would pay the higher annual fees, according to the proposal.
It would also make a city pilot program that offers legal help to tenants permanent. Officials said that program has generated $13.6 million in benefits since 2022 and cost just $4 million.
What’s changed since the mayor’s proposal was first introduced?
A provision in the original version of the ordinance that would have required landlords to pay $10,000 or 10 months rent if tenants were forced to move because of an “unconscionable” proposed rent increase has been removed.
Nor would the ordinance require landlords to provide relocation assistance to renters who lost their housing through no fault of their own, removing a provision that would require landlords to have cause before evicting a tenant.
In addition, the ordinance now includes exemptions if a unit is occupied by the building’s owner, in an effort to help smaller landlords keep rents low, officials said.
What would the proposal crafted by the mayor’s critics do?
The rival proposal would give the city’s Department of Buildings the authority to enforce the city’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, even though the commissioner told alderpeople her department had neither the capacity nor the expertise to do that work.
It would also require the owner of every rental property in the city to identify themselves to city officials.
The rival proposal would allow landlords to charge a fee to tenants before they move in, while capping the amount of any security deposit at no more than a month and a half of rent, according to the proposal. It would also allow landlords to charge tenants other fees, as long as they were disclosed before the lease was signed.
The rival proposal would expand the number of rental units in Chicago that are exempt from city regulations by allowing those who own as many as 12 rental units across Chicago, even if the owner does not live in one of the units, to operate without city oversight.
In addition, the rival proposal could require a tenant to pay the legal fees of their landlord if they unsuccessfully sue to prevent an eviction or enforce their lease, which is now prohibited by current city law.
While groups like the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance have blasted the mayor’s proposal, they have tepidly supported the rival measure, saying it “avoids some of the unnecessary costs and regulatory burdens” included in the mayor’s proposal.
How would the city pay for the changes backed by the mayor’s critics?
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward), the lead sponsor of the rival proposal, said a yet-to-be introduced measure would fund those efforts by doubling the annual fee paid by mortgage holders when they foreclose on a property, from $700 to $1,400. That would generate $8 million annually, Villegas said.
What’s changed with the rival ordinance since it was first introduced?
The rival proposal was revised to include changes made in 2020 to require landlords to give tenants who have lived in the same unit for more than six months more notice before being evicted and to require landlords to allow tenants to pay back missed rental payments and court fees up until the eviction order is finalized by a judge.
What’s next for these proposals?
They are headed for a City Council showdown, which could come as early as Wednesday. However, since the City Council’s rules allow just two alderpeople to block a vote on both proposals at that meeting, the debate is likely to continue into October.
The Committee on Housing and Real Estate voted 12-9 to advance Johnson’s proposal, while the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards voted 12-6 to advance the rival proposal.
That means 12 of the City Council’s 50 alderpeople have voted for the mayor’s proposal and 12 have voted for the rival proposal, an indication of how fiercely contested this issue has become.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
