Chicago renters’ rights are at stake in dueling City Hall proposals

The first and last time the Chicago City Council passed a sweeping renters’ rights ordinance was in 1986.

Ronald Reagan was president, Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie were atop the Billboard 100 chart, and the median rent in some Chicago neighborhoods was around $515 .

Forty years later, tenants face sky-high rents, bidding wars and piles of fees. They struggle to track down their own landlords when problems arise in their buildings. Landlords themselves face rising costs and property taxes that can make it hard to keep rent affordable.

Many agree the city’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) is due for a renovation.

Mayor Brandon Johnson has pitched a plan backed and crafted by tenants rights groups and housing advocates. A group of City Council members have pitched an alternative, more landlord-friendly version.

Both sides agree the bulk, or “98%,” of their proposals are the same. But the 2% where they diverge mark key differences.

In Chicago, there are more than 600,000 renters — more than half of all households in the city and an undeniably significant bloc of voters. Housing affordability could factor into the city's upcoming mayoral and City Council elections. And as those races begin gearing up this fall, the debate over City Hall’s competing rental ordinances could come to a head.

Here’s what you need to know.

Who’s behind each proposal and what are the politics here?

Tenants rights groups have for years sought an overhaul of the city’s existing rental laws, seeking both modern-day protections and a second chance to fight for components left out of the original ordinance.

They finally found a City Hall ally in Johnson, who campaigned on the idea “housing is a human right” and introduced the “Protecting Renters Ordinance,” or PRO, in June. He called it the culmination of “years and years and years of struggle.”

A supporter holds a sign during a press conference to announce Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Protecting Renters Ordinance in the Loop June 29.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

But Johnson’s relationship with the City Council has grown increasingly frayed, and a month later, moderate and conservative alders were out with their own version, dubbed the “Fair and Accountable Illinois Rental Ordinance,” or FAIR.

So far, the group is made up of 23 out of roughly 30 alders who opposed Johnson’s failed pitch for a new tax on corporations. Spearheaded by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), the group also sought help from a political action committee called One Future Illinois, made up of wealthy and influential business people.

No tenants rights groups were consulted before the ordinance was introduced.

The Neighborhood Building Owners Association, which represents small and mid-sized landlords, was measured in its reaction to the FAIR ordinance, saying in a statement there are “still important issues to resolve” in order to “refine the ordinance.”

Who is considered a small landlord?

Currently, property owners who live in their building with six or fewer units are considered small landlords, and that building is exempt from most of the city’s renter laws — a definition maintained in the proposal from the mayor.

FAIR, the proposal from City Council, would create three tiers of landlords. Small landlords could own up to 12 rental units throughout Chicago and need not live in any of the buildings.

Villegas said the intent is to help “mom-and-pop” landlords expand their portfolios.

“The approach there was to help try to help those folks that are in this housing-providing business the opportunity to grow a little bit, and differentiate between [corporations like] Blackstone and J.P. Morgan versus Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, who live on the block,” Villegas said.

But some housing advocates say expanding exemptions to buildings with up to 12 units that are not owner-occupied could result in thousands of Chicago renters losing long-held tenant protections.

“FAIR is worse for tenants than the status quo and cannot be reasonably considered to be a tenant protection ordinance,” said Jonah Karsh, an organizer with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization.

Jonah Karsh of the Metropolitan Tenants Organization speaks at a press conference about tenants’ rights earlier this month at City Hall.

Esther Yoon-Ji Kang

Daniel Kay Hertz, director of housing with the advocacy group Impact for Equity, said these “are not small rights” tenants could lose. “These are things like requiring 48 hours' notice before the landlord can enter your apartment … or a prohibition on retaliation against tenants who report code violations.”

Hertz also said given the prevalence of limited liability companies as a form of property ownership, it would be difficult to verify “who fits in that [small landlord] category and who doesn’t.”

The long-awaited rental registry

To help track ownership and enforce city code, tenant groups have long advocated for a citywide rental registry, which would require landlords to disclose key information about their properties. Dozens of cities across the country already have versions of such a database.

Both PRO and FAIR call for a rental registry, but each proposal takes a significantly different approach.

FAIR would require that landlords provide only the property address and contact information for “the owner or the owner’s authorized agent” and for the person in charge of tenants’ repair requests.

PRO would require additional information, including details on who is responsible for an LLC or trust that owns the property. This, housing advocates say, would allow the city to identify neglectful landlords who may be hiding behind corporate entities.

“It's really important that the registry be set up to succeed, to make sure that the city is getting out of the registry what it intends to,” Hertz said.

Villegas said “if there’s further discussions about the content that needs to be collected, we’re open to that.”

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) speaks with Anthony Quezada (35...

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