​Dear friend,

If you've read any of our recent emails, you've seen the work that the Just Cause campaign is doing to work more closely with the Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance (CHHO) campaign. Both campaigns have the same core goals: creating safe, healthy, and secure shelter for all of Chicago's renters, a reality that too many renters, especially in Black and Brown neighborhoods, cannot take for granted. Tomorrow, organizers from both campaigns will be speaking at a Housing Justice Summit co-presented by the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance and Housing Choice Partners, sharing why we're working so closely together on two critical bills.
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​Registration for the event is available at bit.ly/HJS_22. The Just Cause/CHHO presentation will take place from 11:20 am to 12:20 pm, with the rest of the program running all day from 9:30 am to 4 pm. Tomorrow's programming will all occur on Zoom, while the second day of the conference will be hosted in person at the Experimental Station in Woodlawn, located at 6100 S. Blackstone. Both days are open to the general public, so please join us if you're interested in learning more about these campaigns, or about housing justice in general!

In addition to this exciting panel discussion, we are also happy to announce that the Justice League has a new website, and is hiring a new staff member! Our website is available at chicagohousingjusticeleague.org, and shares some of the critical work that we are doing. In addition, the League is now actively searching for additional capacity through the creation of a second part-time organizer position. Details for the role are available at tinyurl.com/CHJLNewJob, and applicants are encouraged to apply or reach out with questions as soon as possible. We are thrilled to be expanding the work that we're doing as a coalition, and building support for much-needed policy change in the city of Chicago. If our work inspires you and you'd like to consider joining us, please reach out!

We hope you're staying safe and healthy in the midst of yet another Chicago summer heat wave. Looking forward to seeing applications for our new position, and to connecting with more people at the discussion tomorrow!

Solidarity,
Annie

Dear friend,

On Wednesday, NPR published a bleak article titled "Eviction filings are up sharply as pandemic rental aid starts to run out." As the headline suggests, we are now witnessing a rapid uptick in eviction rates around the country, as more and more people are unable to access emergency rental assistance that had previously kept millions in their home.

The lessons from the piece cannot be more clear. Despite the large-scale instability and unemployment unleashed by the pandemic, millions of people were kept from losing their housing at the height of the pandemic through a mixture of eviction moratoria, rental assistance, and an increase in spending in legal protections in eviction court. Previously, the federal government had allocated $46 billion in aid to support tenants seeking emergency support; now that those funds are tapped out and not being renewed, we're seeing evictions jump in countless cities around the country, in some cases at rates higher than before the pandemic. In an analysis based on data from six states and 31 cities with data, the Eviction Lab found that eviction rates in March were at 97 percent of their historic average, compared to just 46 percent last August, when the CDC's eviction moratorium expired. Again, the data could not be more clear: we had a robust (at least by US standards) stance against letting people get evicted, until we gave up and left people to fend for themselves once more.

Now, advocates are worrying not simply that evictions are going to reach their pre-pandemic levels, but in many cases climb even higher. With rent rates continuing to spike around the country, we know that people are even more stretched to pay for housing, on top of all the other expenses that have climbed in the last two years. As a housing organizer, it's enough to send chills through your spine, knowing the incredible human toll that our broken approach will take on millions of Americans. In Chicago, we know that these figures are exacerbated by the lack of Just Cause for Eviction, which would prevent landlords from evicting tenants for no reason. These compounding crises are a ticking time bomb, and we cannot pretend them away.
If you're concerned about these issues and want to learn more about how you can have an impact in Chicago, consider learning more about Just Cause for Eviction from our website here. Now more than ever, we need everyday people to stand up to these issues and fight for a world in which housing is honored as a human right. Thank you for your support!
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Solidarity,
Annie

Dear friend,
Last week, Shelterforce, a community development-oriented publication, published "Eviction Reduction Should Be an Explicit Goal of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program," co-written by Glenda Krouse Matute, Dan Immergluck, and Clarence Messler. The article is a valuable exploration of what expectations are placed upon affordable housing providers who apply for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) funds, the primary method of financing the construction of affordable housing units in the US today. Distressingly, after investigating policy outlines for states and cities nationwide, the authors found that almost no jurisdiction requires these kinds of developments to have explicit anti-eviction protections in place, seemingly running in contradiction to these project's stated purpose of providing low-cost housing to those who need it most.
What does this mean in practice? Our coalition, the Chicago Housing Justice League, has been pushing the Chicago Rehab Network to change its stance on Just Cause for Eviction, a policy that would prevent 10,000 Chicago households from no-fault displacement each year. The Rehab Network, an umbrella organization that represents the majority of Chicago's most influential affordable housing developers, has thus far refused to endorse Just Cause, while telling the Justice League that it agrees in principle with many aspects of the legislation we've proposed. Even as we've made significant changes to the bill to garner the Rehab Network's support, we have now waited more than a month for the organization to respond to our latest set of amendments, during which time eviction court has been open and exposed more renters to displacement. While the Rehab Network's voice is influential in changing the minds of countless elected officials who we need to sign onto Just Cause, the organization has thus far refused to take the lead in supporting basic housing security for their own tenants and for all of Chicago's 1.5 million renters.
On the organization's website, the Rehab Network encourages people to "Support Development Without Displacement." But without endorsing Just Cause, we know what happens in Chicago: tenants in gentrifying neighborhoods are pushed out in favor of those who can afford higher rents, like the existing renters in this 18-unit building in Bronzeville that were displaced when new ownership bought the building last year. Will the Rehab Network back up its own stated values and ensure that both nonprofit and for-profit owners cannot eviction renters without good cause? As the authors of the Shelterforce article argue, "Given the substantial evidence on the harms that evictions impose on families and communities, [LIHTC] should include eviction reduction and mitigation as an explicit goal." It's time for the Rehab Network to step up and follow through in this project, and set a model for other affordable housing providers around the country. Chicago's renters can't wait any longer.
Solidarity,
Annie

DearAnnie,
When the Chicago Housing Justice League and its legislative allies presented at City Council about Just Cause for Eviction in September, one of the more surprising opponents to the bill was the Chicago Rehab Network. That organization, which represents affordable and non-profit housing developers in Chicago, said that the bill would make development in low-income communities more difficult. While this has not proven true in any of the many jurisdictions that have Just Cause nationwide, it was nevertheless a disappointment that an organization which claims a mission of "creating, preserving, and advocating for affordable housing" would oppose such a common-sense tenant protection. After all, how will we preserve affordable housing units for Chicago's renters if its tenants are vulnerable to eviction at a landlord's whim, often because the landlord wants to remove a tenant and move in a higher-income household, or as retaliation for a tenant raising concerns about unsafe building conditions that they should not be experiencing?
Since then, the Justice League has met with the board of the Rehab Network, and has made several substantive changes to the bill to accommodate their concerns. While the organization gave some indication that these changes were appreciated and moved them closer to supporting the bill, it's now been six months since the subject matter hearing, and their opposition continues to be a key obstacle for Just Cause, one of the number-one stated reasons by several undecided alderpeople for not supporting the bill. Given that, the League has worked in partnership with members of the Rehab Network that support Just Cause to create the following letter calling on the Rehab Network's board to change their stance on Just Cause.
If you have any relationships with members of the Rehab Network and would like to add your voice in calling on the organization to change their position, please respond to this email and we can discuss further. Thanks in advance!
Dear Board Members of the Chicago Rehab Network,
As longtime allies and members of the Rehab Network, we write to urge you to reverse your stand on the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. At the bill’s subject matter hearing in September, Rehab Network Executive Director Kevin Jackson opposed the bill. This bill is of great importance to Chicago's 1.5 million renters, and we hope that you will reconsider your opposition.
After the hearing, several members of the Chicago Housing Justice League met with members of the Chicago Rehab Network Board to discuss the agency's opposition. Of particular concern to many Board members were the costs associated with the bill’s rental registry and the payment of relocation assistance versus CRN’s outstanding commitments to the Federal Uniform Relocation Assistance Act. CHJL made the requested changes with no objection to garner support for the bill.
The only change not made was one that would strip away the core principle of Just Cause, allowing landlords to evict or non-renew a tenant’s lease without justification. Participants in the call said they feared that losing the right to remove ‘problem’ tenants would limit their ability to provide quality affordable housing. While we sympathize with the desire to fulfill this mission without hiccups, the reality is that such tenants can still be asked to leave their units and that stating the problem outright could serve to improve communications with the problematic tenant in many cases, with eviction court serving as a very last resort. Between informal conversations, mediation, and the possibility of a tenant moving out of their own volition, there are many opportunities for nonprofit landlords and their tenants to work out disputes. Especially given that this happens with only a small fraction of tenants in the first place, we think it would be a mistake to oppose the bill, when this legislation would protect all of Chicago’s renters from the anxiety of a sudden, unwarranted eviction.
The Rehab Network's mission states that CRN and its members are dedicated to creating communities without displacement. No-cause notices are a major tool of gentrifiers and a key means of displacement of tenants. These notices make it easy for profit-hungry developers to push tenants out of their communities and for unscrupulous landlords to retaliate against tenants. No-fault evictions particularly harm low-income tenants of color, such as the senior, disabled Black tenants living in an 18-unit building in Bronzeville who were evicted with no warning late last year. No amount of mission-driven affordable housing can accommodate the large numbers of tenants who are dealing with these kinds of unexpected displacements each year, contributing to the worsening homelessness crisis our city is facing. In the long run, more money is spent, more people’s lives are ruined, and entire communities are lost or disrupted because we lack Just Cause in Chicago. We understand that as landlords this bill changes a few small but tangible aspects in the provision of quality, low-cost housing to Chicago renters. Still, we feel the benefits of the bill to renters far outweigh the inconvenience and extra steps needed to manage a disruptive tenant. Especially as some CRN members manage project-based voucher properties that have federally-mandated Just Cause protections, we question why this practice cannot be extended to everyone in the city.
As members and supporters, we ask you to do the right thing for Chicago's low-income tenants and support the bill. It is where your and our roots are. Your support of the legislation is critical to several alderpeople who look to the Chicago Rehab Network for their perspective, and we ask you to take that influence seriously and sign on today. Please let us know what the board’s position on the bill is as soon as possible. Thanks in advance.
Signed,
Access Living
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Latino Policy Forum
ONE Northside

Dear friend,
If you're in Chicago, you might have seen the horrific news from Albany Park, where a massive fire started in an apartment building yesterday and eventually resulted in the total destruction of two adjacent businesses. (As of now, it appears that nobody living in the building was seriously harmed.) The apartment building's owner, Gary Carlson, is a well-known slumlord in the neighborhood, and owns 60 buildings and at least 500 units in buildings that have repeatedly faced code violations. While Carlson blamed the city for targeting him with fines due to a previous incident when a firefighter was shot near one of his buildings, his glib response to Block Club speaks volumes about how easy it is for landlords to get away with poor maintenance: "I’ve got so many violations.... I think that I may set the Chicago, maybe the world record for the number of violations that I have."
Why did the fire happen? First and foremost, the lack of a dedicated landlord registry, tied to a regular inspection regime that proactively addresses harmful building conditions, is a major concern. Injustice Watch reporter Maya Dukmasova compared Chicago's lack of rental inspection policies to the standards of the "pre-FDA food industry," a damning analogy that shows how little we care about renter safety. Moreover, the city's own list of 'scofflaw' landlords, meant to name and shame those who have repeatedly broken code violations, did not include Carlson, and to date only 98 properties are even listed, according to a Tribune investigation last year. Over and over again, tenants' lives are threatened by this routine neglect, while Carlson has repeatedly received federal and state funds for owning units that rent to subsidized tenants. It just doesn't make sense.
The case for a proactive rental inspection program from this situation is clear. Progressive allies in the Housing Committee fought for a pilot program in last year's budget, but it did not pass. But this situation also reveals just how badly we need Just Cause for Eviction. Especially if we do not have a regular inspection program, how can we expect tenants to raise concerns about building safety, when they can face the immediate threat of eviction in retaliation from their landlord? It's a sad, cruel system, benefitting nobody but the landlords who extract money from renters and government subsidies while leaving people to risk death in their homes. We will see more fires like this one, again and again, until City Council passes both Just Cause and a proactive rental inspection program. We cannot let tragedies like this continue, but unless City Council changes course, it's exactly what will continue to happen.
Solidarity,
Annie

Dear friend,
Earlier this week, the New York Times published "The Landlord’s Worst Nightmare Is a Basic Human Right." The headline sums it all up: why are landlords so terrified of ensuring the bare minimum for their tenants? Shouldn't it be immoral and illegal to remove someone from their home if they've done nothing wrong?
The video, inspired by the classic Schoolhouse Rock song "I'm Just A Bill," was created in support of Good Cause for Eviction, a statewide proposal currently being discussed in the state of New York. While the specifics of the bill are slightly different than what we're fighting for with Just Cause in Chicago, the basic principles remain the same: landlords shouldn't be able to remove tenants just because they want to. Renters deserve to know that the place they call home will still be theirs as long as they want to live there and are current on their rent. Anything less is a betrayal of the basic right to shelter that we know that every human being deserves.

Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in today. As the video shows, the real estate lobby has spent millions of dollars lobbying elected officials to preserve a status quo (or even revoke previously-enacted pro-tenant policies) that leaves millions of Americans struggling to afford shelter every month. It's only through people power, and the dedicated efforts of organizers and everyday people demanding real change, that will win policies like Just (or Good) Cause in Chicago, New York, and elsewhere. That's exactly what the video suggests: as it stands, most people don't even realize how vulnerable renters are to losing their shelter despite doing nothing wrong. To get Just Cause passed in 2022, we need everyone concerned about this issue to tell their friends, families, and neighbors about why this issue is so important, as we build the kind of public awareness that will make our elected officials feel real pressure to sign on in support of the bill. Even after nearly two years of living through the pandemic, when having secure shelter is in many cases a life-or-death situation for millions of people, we still have lots of work to make our voices heard in support of Just Cause.
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If you think Just Cause is important, please consider sending our petition to others who you think would support the bill. In the coming weeks, we'll be announcing more opportunities to learn more and engage with the bill, including an event happening in February debunking the myth of the "mom and pop" landlord that the real estate lobby has used to make it impossible to pass pro-tenant policies. We are also preparing to host more phone banking in the near future, so if you have any interest in participating in that, please respond to this email and let us know. As always, thank you for your support and interest in Just Cause! There's no way we would be able to get the bill passed without the support of people like yourself.

Solidarity,
Annie

Dear friend,

It comes as no surprise that mainstream media is often unwilling to connect the dots when it comes to housing justice issues. A few weeks ago, the Chicago Tribune shared the heartbreaking story of Black renters in Avalon Park who were forced to leave their homes with no warning, as their building hadn’t been maintained, and was lacking heating and running water. Even as it showed the clear injustices facing low-income renters in the majority-Black neighborhood, we still see the same media outlets, time and time again, speak out of the other side of their mouth and argue that any expansion of renters’ rights would harm landlords too much. That’s just what happened recently in the Chicago Sun-Times, who published a misleading editorial about our bill, Just Cause for Eviction.

On Thanksgiving, the Sun-Times editorial board told readers that it wanted to see portions of our Just Cause for Eviction ordinance enacted, while balancing the needs of renters and landlords. But the editorial board's biases were soon made clear: Just Cause advocates were never contacted about the piece, while the Chicagoland Apartment Association, one of the biggest opponents to the bill, got to spin their own misleading story about the bill. Within days, the Sun-Times published a response letter that further tarnished Just Cause, written by someone who doesn't even live in Chicago, yet claims to have rented for the past 30 years, calling us "extreme left-wing activists" for trying to keep 10,000 Chicago families from being evicted for no fault each year.

Finally, earlier this week, the Chicago Housing Justice League was able to respond. You can read our letter in full here. Although it remains frustrating to see outlets like the Sun-Times more willing to listen to landlords than tenant advocates, their decision to write about our bill suggests that our messages are reaching a wider audience, threatening the status quo and pushing them to respond. Although we swim upstream against a powerful tide of real estate influence, the message of Just Cause is nonetheless pushing onwards, continuing to build the case that renters need more stability in their lives.

Finally, one area that we were unable to address in our op-ed, but one that demonstrates just how misleading the real estate lobby can be, concerns their counterproposal against the passage of Just Cause. Instead of preventing tenants from being displaced for no fault of their own, Tom Benedetto from the Chicagoland Apartment Association argued that the “solution” is to build affordable units in all Chicago neighborhoods. Such a claim rings hollow if you look at the long and damning history of real estate interests. A century ago, the Chicago Real Estate Board voted to expel members for selling property to Black families in white neighborhoods, setting a precedent for the real estate lobby nationwide. Only in 2019 did the Chicago Association of Realtors apologize for their contributions to racial segregation, decades after it was clear how much harm they’d caused.

Now, the Chicagoland Apartment Association claims to want more affordable units in wealthier areas, ignoring the industry’s deep culpability in making Chicago more unaffordable, inequitable, and segregated. Rather than protect renters who need basic protections like Just Cause, they try to distract from the current discussion, feigning concern for the needs of poor renters while actively profiting off of people’s misery. It’s the same kind of cynical, misleading discussion we see time and time again, yet the Sun-Times lets this line run without any critical thinking on their part.

While we also fight for more units that are genuinely affordable to low-income renters, we know that housing justice will not be found if a renter can be evicted from their home for no reason at all. That's what Just Cause will accomplish. It will end of the practice of using no-fault terminations and evictions to hide unlawful retaliation and discrimination, and it will humanize displacement by gentrification. Chicago’s 1.4 million renters deserve the stability and protections enjoyed by over 10 million rental families nationwide and over 30,000 right here in Chicago. Each year, we estimate that 10,000 Chicago rental households lose their housing each year through no fault of their own. They need protection, now more than ever.

Solidarity,
​Annie

Dear friend,

If you follow Chicago politics in any capacity, you know that City Council is a minefield for progressive legislation. While the body's 50 alderpeople have historically moved in lockstep with the mayor -- at least when the mayor isn't pushing a progressive agenda, as was the case when Harold Washington was in office -- it's much harder to build a coalition to get substantial reforms passed without the mayor's blessing. That's been the case for Just Cause for Eviction for more than a year, as we've had to fight for every single vote to get our bill passed. Despite that adversity, the Chicago Housing Justice League is pleased to announce that we've made significant progress in the last several weeks, with three new co-sponsors that we're pleased to announce.
Since September, our coalition has secured the support of three new alderpeople: Emma Mitts (37th Ward, Austin/West Garfield Park/West Humboldt Park), Robert Maldonado (26th Ward, Humboldt Park), and, just this week, Derrick Curtis (18th Ward, Ashburn). We are grateful to all three for agreeing to meet with our coalition, for working with us to strengthen the legislation, and for ultimately agreeing that the urgent concern of preventing unnecessary evictions is too great of a concern to wait on any longer.
Every vote counts, and with these three on our side, we are now up to 16 co-sponsors on the bill, pushing us even closer to the 26 votes needed to pass a bill in City Council. Still, there's lots more work to do, and we need your help. We still need help letting more people know why Just Cause is so important -- why people shouldn't be displaced for no reason, what happens when people unexpectedly lose their homes, and how Just Cause will promote neighborhood stability and community trust. In the coming weeks, we will be having more phone banking opportunities to target specific undecided alders to convince them to join our side, so please be on the lookout for more news there.
We're so glad that we're gaining legislative allies who understand the urgency of our moment. But make no mistake: Just Cause will only win if there's real pressure from our communities to get it passed. As the eviction courts reopen in Illinois and thousands of residents face the threat of eviction, we know our neighborhoods are suffering and in need of support. Just Cause is one important step forward towards housing justice, but there's lots more we need to do. We hope you'll join us in this fight.

Solidarity,
Annie

Dear friend,
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This morning, the publication Next City published "Tired of Mold, Mice and Bad Management, Chicago Tenants Take a Stand." The piece, written by Next City staff writer Roshan Abraham, shows the abject conditions that tenants like Jolondon Jamerson face in their homes, and the severe consequences they face anytime they try to raise concerns about what they're experiencing. Jamerson, who's lived in the same building in Chatham for the past 17 years, had put up for years with horrible conditions, dealing with "mold, mice, broken doors, lack of working smoke detectors and heat shut-offs in the winter." She didn't raise concerns about the conditions for years, until she learned that other tenants in her building were fighting together to tell the management company, BSD Realty, that they'd had enough.

Unsurprisingly but unfortunately, speaking out had severe consequences for Jamerson. She was immediately met with threats of eviction, demands to pay months of back rent that the company could not document she hadn't paid, and other forms of retaliation. Others in similar situations in BSD buildings faced violent responses as well, with one tenant having their door kicked in and their possessions removed from the unit. While many of these practices are illegal, the underlying truth remains: without Just Cause for Eviction, which prevents evictions where tenants are not at fault, and a proactive rental inspection system, which would require companies like BSD to keep their buildings in decent condition without requiring tenant requests for inspection, we leave renters in disinvested neighborhoods to face the worst conditions possible. Between rising rents, low wages, poor housing conditions, and no tenant security, we know that these families are often unable to find refuge in the place they call home.

Thankfully, the Just Cause for Eviction campaign is working more closely with the Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance (CHHO) campaign. Through organizations like the Metropolitan Tenants Organization, which helps tenants organize and resist harmful landlord behaviors, we're organizing for a future where renters are not vulnerable to the worst abuses of their landlords. While the battle to get both bills passed has been difficult, we believe this budding partnership will strengthen our position on both bills, and will give us additional support as we imagine what a more hopeful future for Chicago's Black and Brown renters looks like.

We appreciate Next City for covering both ordinances, and for making the connections that too many elected officials have refused to make. Without prioritizing both the health and stability of renters in our city, we will continue to struggle with the same issues facing our communities. Renters deserve to be full participants in their communities, and our campaigns are working to make that a reality.

Solidarity,
Annie

Dear friend,
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Needless to say, I was depressed and disturbed to read the news this weekend that three people died in a senior housing facility in Rogers Park. After temperatures soared into the 90s last week, the kinds of sudden temperature swings that will only become more and more common because of global warming, it's distressing that people living in a senior facility could be left in these conditions, resulting in their deaths. Residents reported experiencing "oven-like" conditions in their units, and said that they were afraid to go to sleep while their homes were so hot. Despite the efforts of Alderwoman Maria Hadden, who is now calling for an investigation into the incident, any attempts to cool the building down were made too late for Delores McNeely, Janice Reed, and Gwendolyn Osborne, who all passed away in the heat.
These conditions did not occur in just any apartment building. They happened at the James Sneider apartments, a senior living facility owned by Hispanic Housing Development Corp., one of the city's largest nonprofit housing providers. Disturbingly, Hispanic Housing's CEO, Paul Roldan, was paid $2,208,365 in 2019, accounting for more than 16 percent of the organization's revenues, making him the nation's seventh-highest paid nonprofit CEO that year. Meanwhile, in addition to the three deaths that happened this weekend, Hispanic Housing has also been found to have poorly maintained a veteran's housing facility in Humboldt Park, and also had to pay $1.5 million in fines in a class-action lawsuit for not informing tenants of their rights. Taken together, all of these facts reveal a distressing pattern of neglect and disregard for the lives of tenants, all from a company that's been charged with providing housing to those who need it most.
Clearly, we need major changes. We fully support Alderwoman Hadden's plans to investigate Hispanic Housing for the deaths that happened this weekend, and hope that accountability will be possible. But we need to go further. Why is it possible for a nonprofit CEO to take in millions of dollars in salary, while his company cannot even treat its own residents with basic care? Why are these tenants not afforded the basic protections like Just Cause that they deserve, especially when the Chicago Rehab Network, the umbrella organization representing Hispanic Housing and other nonprofit owners in Chicago, continues to oppose the legislation? These are vital questions that we must ask if we are to win Just Cause, and to ensure that renters in all buildings have the safe, stable, and healthy housing they deserve.
If you'd like to learn more about why we need nonprofit housing providers to take responsibility for their role in blocking further protections for Chicago's renters, like those who suffered through the heat last week, please reach out today. There's a lot more we need to do to hold them accountable, and we need your support to make it happen.
Solidarity,
Annie