Advocates speak against ordinance that would scale back some tenant protection proposals in Chicago
Local leaders and housing advocates on Monday called on Chicago's City Hall to push back on a so-called FAIR Ordinance, which would scale back some of the plans in Mayor Brandon Johnson's Protect Renters Ordinance.
The Fair and Accountable Illinois Rental Ordinance was proposed by members of the Budget Accountability Coalition in the City Council. It was developed directly in response to the mayor's proposal, which includes relocation fees for tenants and a "just cause" requirement for evictions and other lease terminations.
The FAIR Ordinance would eliminate both of those provisions, and would create broader exemptions for small landlords.
Landlords have said making housing more costly for them to provide will not make housing more affordable.
Ald. Anthony Joel Quezada (35th) and other advocates spoke against the FAIR Ordinance at City Hall Monday morning. The advocates said the ordinance was introduced by "real estate industry-backed members of the City Council," and would not only scale back the mayor's Protect Renters Ordinance, but would also "roll back tenant protections that have been in place in Chicago for decades."
"At a time when housing costs are rising, and too many people are struggling to stay in their homes, we should be strengthening tenant protections, not weakening them," Quezada said. "I am a lifelong renter. The majority of my constituents are renters, and a majority of Chicagoans are renters.
Quezada defended Mayor Johnson's proposal, which he said was developed by tenants and housing policy experts.
"Unfortunately, the so-called FAIR Ordinance would move Chicago backward, not forward, unlike what some of my colleagues would say," Quezada said. "The FAIR Ordinance has been presented as a balanced approach, but when you look at the details, it removes or weakens many of the protections renters need most."
Devon Carson of the Belden Sawyer Tenants Association said evictions are at the root of the housing crisis in Chicago and beyond.
"We have experienced the stress and the fear and the expense of the eviction process and being forced to move from our homes firsthand," she said, "and isn't that what we mean when we talk about the housing crisis — people who have been forced out of their homes, families living under bridges because they were evicted, the schoolkids with no homes to go to because their families were evicted, entire communities building tent cities in our parks because they were evicted from their homes? Isn't that the housing crisis we're trying to solve?"
Carson said the FAIR Ordinance would deregulate and move accountability from the "rich and powerful" to place the burden on working-class tenants. She said under the FAIR Ordinance, the requirement for notice ahead of an eviction would be eliminated, and thus, a tenant could be kicked out of a rental unit with a day's notice.
The mayor's Protect Renters Ordinance would also require annual registration of all rental units, and create a new city office to handle complaints and enforcement. The city said smaller landlords would pay less than the large corporate ones. The fees would be capped at $60 per year per unit.
