The State of Renters in theCity of Chicago

The Metropolitan Tenants Organization

Ann K. Barnds, MUPP and Mirabai Auer, MUPP

A Report by

The Metropolitan Tenants Organization

2150 S Canalport, Suite 2-B2Chicago,IL 60608www.tenants-rights.org

Data Graphics and Analysis Prepared by:

3110 N BernardChicago, Illinois 60618www.joinandrelate.com

For a full copy of

The State of Renters in the City of Chicago

, please visit www.tenants-rights.org

The State of Renters in the City of Chicago

Recently, a renter called The Metropolitan TenantsOrganization’s (MTO) citywide Hotline becausedespite repeated verbal requests, her landlordwas unresponsive to her requests for repairs. Her apartment needed major plumbing work. After learning about her rights from a Hotline counselor, shewrote a letter to her landlord detailing the problemsand informing him of his obligations and her rights

should he fail to fulll them. Within days of the

landlord’s receipt of the letter, he was busy makingrepairs.

With funding from the City of Chicago, MTO’s

Hotline has been a key resource to the nearly 1.3

million renters living in Chicago. It has helped manythousands of renters nd constructive ways to address

problems with their rental housing. The informationrenters have received has allowed them to play an

important part in preserving Chicago’s housing stock.

The Hotline has also served as MTO’s eyes and earsinto the lives of renters. Since its inception in 1994,

the MTO Hotline has elded more than 150,000 calls,

carefully collecting information and tracking data

on housing issues. In collecting this data, Hotline

counselors have spent thousands of hours listening

to the stories told by Chicago’s renters. The story of renters in Chicago is that they are increasingly facingunpredictability in the rental housing market, nancial

stress, and deteriorated living conditions. Their livesare and have been in tumult for years.

In the past decade, market changes – such as

condominium conversions, which displaced thousands

of renters – have taken their toll, making the lack

of stable, affordable housing for renters a critical

issue. We decided to commission this report prior to

the collapse of the housing bubble and crisis in the

nancial markets in fall 2008. But these events have

brought about a broader recognition of what low- and

moderate-income renters have known all along – theproblems in Chicago’s housing market are systemic.

For years renters have needed and wanted a newnational housing policy that balances homeownership

Letter from the Executive Director

and rental housing. Part of the reason their problemshave persisted and escalated is that policy makershave failed to recognize the importance of stable

rental housing and have an insufcient understanding

of the perspective of renters.Data from the MTO Hotline contextualizes renters’

calls relative to Census data on Chicago rentersand rental housing stock. In combination, these

data sources provide deep insight into the currentenvironment facing renters, and the interconnection of renters and homeowners, renters and neighborhoods,

renters and thriving communities. By bringing to

light the factors impacting renters’ ability to access

and afford stable housing, these research ndings

underscore the need for policy changes.

We would like to thank all of the volunteers whose

countless hours of assistance and advocacy for

and with Chicago’s renters allow this organization

to educate, organize and empower tenants to havea voice in decisions that affect the affordability andavailability of decent, safe and accessible housing.

Certainly, we thank the City of Chicago and all of our

foundation supporters for seeing the ongoing value of this Hotline.

In the end, we need to view housing as a right. If we

want a healthy, educated and employed society, thenhousing must be recognized as a critical component inachieving these goals. Absent livable, affordable andstable housing, individuals and families will continue to

face conditions that make them vulnerable to nancial

stress, illness and injury from home based hazards,absence from school and missed work. Armed with

the ndings in

The

State of Renters in the City of Chicago

, we are well-positioned to catalyze muchneeded local policy change and bring an informedvoice to the important national discussion of how toensure that all our citizens are adequately housed.

John Bartlett

Executive Director The Metropolitan Tenants Organization

September 15, 2009