Letter from the Alderman (08.10.26) Dear Neighbors, The Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) was written nearly forty years ago with a stated purpose: "to protect and promote the public health, safety and welfare of its citizens" and "to encourage the landlord and the tenant to maintain and improve the quality of housing" across Chicago. Forty years is long enough for a law to prove what it got right, and long enough for the city around it to change into something its authors never quite pictured. Now, there are several conversations about how to modernize the RLTO, and each comes with its own mix of benefits and consequences that I want you to understand clearly. At the end of June, Mayor Brandon Johnson introduced the Protecting Renters Ordinance (PRO), which would amend the RLTO to expand renter protections and put real accountability mechanisms behind them. The ordinance calls for a new city department, the Bureau of Rental Services, to enforce the new rules. It would establish a rental registry to track properties and document violations, an Eviction Counsel program to provide legal assistance to tenants who need it, and a "just cause" requirement — meaning a landlord would need a legitimate reason to evict or decline to renew a lease defined as nonpayment of rent, a serious lease violation, owner occupancy, major repairs, demolition, or sale of the unit. Where a tenant is not at fault, the landlord would owe relocation assistance of five months' rent or $5,000, whichever is greater. Landlords also would have to pay $10,000 or 10 months’ rent if tenants are forced to move because of an “unconscionable” proposed rent increase PRO also proposes a Tenant's Bill of Rights, a cap on security deposits at one month's rent, and a $20 ceiling on application fees. The Mayor believes this is what it takes to make renting in Chicago fair and stable. A number of my colleagues believe it goes further than that — that it places restrictions on landlords significant enough to push rents up and slow the affordable housing development this city still badly needs. Both concerns are legitimate. A tenant needs to know they won't lose their home over a landlord's whim. A housing provider needs to know the rules won't make it impossible to operate. Neither of those needs cancels the other out, and that tension is exactly why a second proposal now exists. Last month, a competing measure was introduced: the Fair and Accountable Illinois Rental Ordinance (FAIR). It shares some ground with PRO — both call for a rental registry, and both cap security deposits — but the similarities end there. FAIR would house its registry inside the existing Department of Buildings rather than create a new bureau. It references "fees in addition to rent" without PRO's specific language banning junk fees outright. FAIR does not include a Tenant's Bill of Rights, a just cause requirement, relocation assistance, or a city-run right to counsel program. It would also redefine what counts as a "small" landlord, raising that threshold to anyone who owns twelve units or fewer, with no requirement that the owner live on site — and it includes incentives meant to encourage owners of vacant or out-of-code properties to rehab them and come into compliance rather than leave them sitting empty. Rising rents are a real and valid fear, but we cannot trade away protections renters will need for years to come just to ease a worry about the next twelve months. At the same time, we can't build a system so burdensome that the family who owns a two-flat, and is working toward a third or fourth, decides the risk isn't worth it anymore. Security for tenants and room to grow for landlords aren't opposing goals, they’re the two conditions a healthy rental market needs at the same time, and any ordinance that only delivers one of them isn’t finished yet. Two ordinances, two different theories of what Chicago owes its renters and what it owes the people who house them. Here's where I stand: a rental registry, no junk fees, relocation assistance that's fair without being punitive, a Tenant's Bill of Rights, a dedicated team with the capacity to actually enforce what we pass, a clearly defined "just cause" standard, a security deposit cap that protects renters without pretending landlords carry no costs of their own, real coordination with our partners at Cook County, and a system built to keep tenants and landlords out of the courtroom in the first place rather than one that waits until they end up there. With more than 50% of this city renting the roof over their heads, and nearly two out of every three of our own neighbors here in the 27th Ward doing the same, that's not a small distinction, and it's not one I intend to let get lost in the fine print. I'll keep bringing you what I learn as this moves through Council, and I look forward to the conversations ahead. Sincerely, Alderman Walter Redmond Burnett 27th Ward Sincerely, Alderman Walter Redmond Burnett 27th Ward |
