Letter from the Alderman (09.21.26) Β Dear Neighbors, Β Here is the latest on the Protecting Renters Ordinance and its competing measure, FAIR. Both bills cleared committee last week and go before the full City Council as soon as this coming week. I voted to advance both out of committee. That vote is not an endorsement of everything inside either one β it is a decision that you deserve a real say before either bill is buried in committee. Β One change to PRO itself matters most: the version heading to a vote is not the bill introduced in June. The Just Cause for Eviction requirement is gone, and so is the relocation assistance tied to it β the guarantee that a tenant displaced through no fault of their own would get help covering the cost of moving. In its place, PRO now relies on the Fair Notice periods already in existing law, the same ones landlords have worked under for years. Β From there, the two ordinances still diverge on two practical questions. Β Enforcement. PRO creates a new city office built solely to handle landlord-tenant disputes. FAIR hands that work to staff in an existing department, on top of what they already do. A tenant calling about ignored repair requests reaches a dedicated team under PRO, and a department also managing building code and construction citywide under FAIR. That structural difference will shape how fast a real problem gets addressed. Β Scope. PRO bans move-in fees and funds legal support in eviction cases; FAIR does not, in the same form. Tenant advocates call those protections essential for renters who cannot afford a lawyer the moment an eviction notice arrives. Landlords argue new fees get passed through to rent, the way property taxes and insurance often are. A two-flat owner and a two-thousand-unit portfolio are not carrying the same weight under either bill, and alderpeople are still working through that gap. Both sides are paying close attention, and neither is wrong on its face. Β Neither ordinance is finished. My job in these next few weeks is pushing the parts that still need work β through hearings, conversations with colleagues, and time with the renters and landlords in this ward who understand what's at stake better than any committee room does. I will keep you posted as this moves toward a final vote. Β Β Sincerely, Alderman Walter Redmond Burnett 27th Ward | 
