The State of Renters in the

City of Chicago

A Report by

The Metropolitan Tenants Organization

Ann K. Barnds, MUPP and Mirabai Auer, MUPP
The Metropolitan Tenants Organization
2150 S Canalport, Suite 2-B2
Chicago,IL 60608
www.tenants-rights.org

Data Graphics and Analysis Prepared by:

3110 N Bernard
Chicago, Illinois 60618
www.joinandrelate.com

For a full copy of The State of Renters in the City of

Chicago, please visit www.tenants-rights.org
Letter from the Executive Director
Recently, a renter called The Metropolitan Tenants
Organization’s (MTO) citywide Hotline because
despite repeated verbal requests, her landlord
was unresponsive to her requests for repairs. Her
apartment needed major plumbing work. After
learning about her rights from a Hotline counselor, she
wrote a letter to her landlord detailing the problems
and informing him of his obligations and her rights
should he fail to fulfill them. Within days of the
landlord’s receipt of the letter, he was busy making
repairs.
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 many
thousands of renters find constructive ways to address
problems with their rental housing. The information
renters 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 ears
into the lives of renters. Since its inception in 1994,
the MTO Hotline has fielded 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 facing
unpredictability in the rental housing market, financial
stress, and deteriorated living conditions. Their lives
are 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
financial markets in fall 2008. But these events have
brought about a broader recognition of what low- and
moderate-income renters have known all along – the
problems in Chicago’s housing market are systemic.
For years renters have needed and wanted a new
national housing policy that balances homeownership
The State of Renters in the City of Chicago
and rental housing. Part of the reason their problems
have persisted and escalated is that policy makers
have failed to recognize the importance of stable
rental housing and have an insufficient understanding
of the perspective of renters.
Data from the MTO Hotline contextualizes renters’
calls relative to Census data on Chicago renters
and rental housing stock. In combination, these
data sources provide deep insight into the current
environment 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 findings
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 have
a voice in decisions that affect the affordability and
availability 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, then
housing must be recognized as a critical component in
achieving these goals. Absent livable, affordable and
stable housing, individuals and families will continue to
face conditions that make them vulnerable to financial
stress, illness and injury from home based hazards,
absence from school and missed work. Armed with
the findings in The State of Renters in the City of
Chicago, we are well-positioned to catalyze much
needed local policy change and bring an informed
voice to the important national discussion of how to
ensure that all our citizens are adequately housed.
John Bartlett
Executive Director
The Metropolitan Tenants Organization
September 15, 2009
1
Executive Summary
The time is right for a U.S. national housing policy
that focuses on affordable and stable housing for
renters.
Chicago is home to nearly 1.3 million renters and
rent is a key economic engine for the city. While the
number of wards dominated by renter households
has been on the decline, rental units remain the
majority of housing in most parts of the city.
Mirroring national trends, the city has a shortage of
affordable rental housing units. Between 1990 and
2005, Chicago lost more than 125,000 affordable
rental housing units. After a decade of rising
household rent, many low- and moderate-income
renters must seek housing in neighborhoods with
housing markets that may already be under stress.
Often renters in these neighborhoods are facing
the risk of involuntary moves, many as a result of
foreclosure.
For too long, national housing policy has relied on
moving Americans toward homeownership. The
current housing and financial crisis suggests that
during the last decade, growth in homeownership
rates and increases in the numbers of owner-
occupied units were unsustainable. Prior to the
foreclosure crisis and the economic downturn,
thousands of renters were forced to move as rental
units were converted to condominiums. Renters
have been in an affordable housing crisis for some
time, many paying an increasing amount of their
income to housing and subject to market conditions
that marginalize them.
In August 2009, President Obama indicated he will
depart from the policies of previous administrations
which prioritized an “ownership society” to focus
on the needs of renters and owners alike. As this
change in the focus of national policy plays out in the
Chicago area, local government entities and non-
profit organizations will likely be tasked with funding,
producing and sustaining affordable housing. Local-
level insight into the rental market, and especially the
conditions faced by renters, is essential for both the
2 The Metropolitan Tenants Organization
development and implementation of affordable rental
housing policies.
To lay the groundwork for an informed discussion,
The Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO)
analyzed both its own Tenants-Rights Hotline data
and U.S. Census data to examine specific conditions
Chicago renters have faced over two decades,
including changes in the geographic distribution
and household conditions of renters. The State of
Renters in the City of Chicago is intended to help
policy makers, providers of affordable housing, and
others understand the housing market from the
perspective of the renter. This can be critical to
solving the housing crisis.
For almost two decades, national policies have
pushed Americans toward homeownership. While
homeownership rates have increased during the last
decade, there continues to be substantial numbers of
renters, both nationally and in Chicago. As we move
through the current housing and foreclosure crisis,
it can be anticipated that the number of renters will
increase.
Changing Patterns in Rental Housing
Data from the U.S. Census confirms that while there
was a decrease of almost 10 percent in the number
of rental housing units in the City of Chicago from
1990 to 2007, rental housing still constitutes the
majority of housing in most parts of the city. We also
found:
• Relative reduction in the proportion of rental
units in the North lakefront area of the city, which
has long been dominated by rental housing.
However, this area still contains large total
numbers of rental units.
• Growth of rental housing in neighborhoods
associated with homeownership, many located
toward the periphery of the city; there has been
an increase in the number of rental units on the
Northwest, South and Southwest sides of the
city.

• Increase in the number of rentals in an area
extending from the South Loop to the near West
side; some of the sub-areas within these regions
of the city have changed rapidly, with strong
markets that encouraged new construction and
speculative development.
• Few new units with hard subsidies in some
of the areas where the number of rental
households are increasing; many Low Income
Housing Tax Credit Properties (LIHTC)
properties are located in areas traditionally
dominated by renters.
• More renters are living in properties with three
to four units and relatively fewer are living in
properties with 10 to 49 units.
Increasing Rent Burden
The inadequate supply of affordable rental stock,
in the face of flat wages and incomes, has resulted
in increased rent burden for many Chicagoans.
Specifically:
• Between 2000 and 2007, the percent of
households allocating 30 percent or more of
their income towards rent grew from 40 to 53
percent; moreover, the percent of renters who
paid 50 percent or more of their income to rent
grew from 20 percent of renter households to
nearly 30 percent.
• Household median gross rent increased
significantly, at a rate outpacing inflation, while
incomes stagnated. In 2007, renters at higher
income levels were also experiencing 30 to 50
percent rent burden.
• Increased rent burden makes renters vulnerable
to adverse economic events which challenges
their ability to remain housed. This is
underscored by significant growth in the number
of rental households who reported at least one
problematic physical or financial condition on the
South and West regions of the city.
The State of Renters in the City of Chicago
Executive Summary
Changing Patterns in Hotline Call Data
MTO’s Hotline data broadens the picture of changing
conditions facing renters. This report maps total
requests, as well as specific types of requests,
including those pertaining to foreclosure, physical
conditions and high-risk situations. Between 1995
and 2007, the geography of Hotline requests
changed dramatically. Importantly, the movement of
renters and renter stress captured by MTO Hotline
calls corroborated what was seen by selected data
sets from the U.S. Census and the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
Changes in Total Requests:
• The number of requests from the North side,
with the exception of pockets in high-density
rental neighborhoods, has decreased. From
2004 to 2007, the Hotline experienced a new
trend with the emergence of a large area of the
West side generating requests at a high level.
• A large area of the South side continued to
generate significant numbers of requests.
However, requests shifted away from the mid-
South lakefront area and toward the Southwest
side of the city.
Changes in Physical Conditions Requests:
• Changes in the geographic distribution of
the rental housing stock were reflected in the
pattern of calls regarding the physical conditions
of rental housing stock to the MTO Hotline.
Many of these calls were generated from
neighborhoods on the South and West sides
where there had been growth in rental housing
and/or stress from foreclosure. Requests
regarding the physical condition of units
continued to generate the largest number of
calls to the Hotline.
Changes in High-Risk Requests:
• Many renters were at high-risk of an involuntary
move as a result of living in a property that was
under or entering foreclosure. Renters and
3
Executive Summary
owners were sharing in the foreclosure crisis,
both in the risk to possession of their housing
and in the physical deterioration due to lack of
funds for maintenance.
• Between 2004 and 2007, much of the West
and South sides generated high numbers
of requests related to this report’s high-risk
measure. Additionally, renters in isolated areas
of the North side continued to be at high-risk of
involuntary moves.
Requests to MTO’s Hotline regarding foreclosure and
physical conditions positively correlated with HUD’s
foreclosure estimates and U.S. Census selected
conditions data, respectively, underscoring MTO’s
Hotline as a valuable resource to policy makers.
MTO’s Hotline data is consistently collected and
available almost in real time, giving policy-makers the
opportunity to make adjustments to programs and
respond to current challenges facing renters.
Importantly, over 70 percent of Hotline callers are
women. They play a key role in household decision-
making. Women may face gender-specific housing
problems, such as familial status discrimination,
as well as economic conditions that make them
vulnerable in the rental market. New housing policies
and programs should specifically consider and target
this population.
Recommendations: What is Needed
Rent is undoubtedly the largest monthly expenditure
for a household. Renters make significant and direct
investments in neighborhoods, and their needs
must be recognized. If we are to be successful at
building neighborhood health and vitality, it is critical
to conceptualize renters as investors in, rather than
simply transient occupants, of the city’s communities.
By comparing call data and housing trends over
time, MTO provides a valuable tool for developing,
analyzing, and evaluating preservation strategies and
targeting interventions to assist renters in maintaining
stable housing. With MTO as a resource, policy
4 The Metropolitan Tenants Organization
makers have the opportunity to review up-to-date
data and make adjustments to existing programs
that may be falling short of addressing the current
challenges renters are facing. Using this type of data
can also ensure that programs and policies under
development recognize the entire nation’s housing
needs, and specifically, the needs of renters.
For years, renters have needed a new national
housing policy that seeks to balance homeownership
with rental housing. The State of Renters in the
City of Chicago documents the crisis facing renters.
Using this information, we can begin to see how to
better fulfill their housing needs. Understanding the
conditions of renters and rental housing can help
policy makers and advocates take action to address
issues that renters face and help renters to access
and maintain housing in stable neighborhoods. Any
comprehensive housing policy will need to focus
on renters and use a variety of tools including
incentives, regulation, and government subsidy.
Driven by the findings of the analysis, the following
key areas need to be addressed at both the policy
and programmatic levels:
National Housing Policy
The Obama Administration should convene a
national housing summit, bringing together federal,
state, and local government officials, representatives
from the non-profit housing community, housing
advocates, property owners and managers, and the
business community. The goal of this summit should
be development of a comprehensive plan to fully
house the residents of this country.
Affordability
Congress and the Administration should re-commit
themselves to funding, building and preserving
affordable housing. The private market on its own
has not produced sufficient affordable housing. The
results are increases in the number of homeless and
number of renters who are moderately to severely
rent-burdened and living in distressed conditions.
A renewed commitment to affordable housing can

be demonstrated by providing supply-side solutions
through the increased production and one-for-one
replacement of subsidized units, as well as on the
demand side by expanding voucher programs. Local
government and non-profit housing developers can
and should play a critical role in expanding affordable
rental housing options. Among the actions needed:
• Fully capitalize the National Housing Trust
Fund. This is a permanent source of funding not
subject to the annual appropriations budget. It
will provide housing for extremely low- and very
low-income households.
• Increase the HUD budget to stimulate building
of social or subsidized housing. Project-based
subsidized housing provides long term stability
for low-income renters.
• Re-enact federal legislation requiring the one-
for-one replacement of public housing units
to stop the continued loss of units through
demolition.
• Increase the use of non-for-profit developers
(CDCs) in owning, building and managing social
housing. The non-profit housing movement has
established itself as a credible partner in efforts
to maintain and expand the supply of affordable
rental housing. Those CDCs that have endured
have extensive knowledge of local market
conditions that should be used.
• Increase the number of vouchers available to
low-income renters. It will take years to build
sufficient social housing and renters need help
now. It is unsustainable, even over the short
term, to have significant numbers of renters
dedicating 50 percent of their income to rent.
Maintenance
Poor housing conditions are the largest complaint
of renters to the MTO hotline. Often owners need
The State of Renters in the City of Chicago
Executive Summary
to balance the cost of making repairs with keeping
rents affordable. Specifically, the problems of small
owners need to be taken into account in developing
programs.
Women in Rental Housing
Expanded research into the housing needs of women
and their vulnerability to particular types of stress in
the rental market is needed. The lack of affordable
rental housing is an issue for women. There is a
need for more programs to meet the housing needs
of women; we would hypothesize there is a particular
need for programs that are geared to female-headed
households.
Foreclosure
Policy efforts should seek to protect renters who
live in properties under threat of or in foreclosure.
Renters continue to be affected in great numbers
as a result of buildings going into foreclosure. Even
with recent federal law that allows renters to live out
their lease during and after foreclosure (or providing
them with 90 days of notice if they have no written
lease), renters still are not secure that their tenancy
will not be affected by foreclosure. Foreclosure
also may force renters to live in substandard
conditions as building maintenance deteriorates
or stops entirely. Funding from the Neighborhood
Stabilization Program (NSP) can be an important tool
to counteract the impact of foreclosures on renters.
Stability
Both neighborhood and household stability should
be a goal of national policy. At the household level,
renters need expanded protection from retaliation
and unjust evictions. At the neighborhood level,
where physical conditions problems are widespread,
interventions to ensure that housing quality
standards are met and maintained can be designed
and implemented. Detailed analysis of local markets
that have been identified as stressed can also ensure
that programs created are assured of success.
5
 Change in the Geography of Renters

2000 to 2007: % Change in Number

of Rental Units by Ward
Not incorporated within Chicago
-60.8% - 0%
0.1% - 20%
20.1% - 138%

2000-2007 Percent Change in Rental Units by Ward

2000: Rental Units 2007: Rental Units

as a % of Total Units by Ward as a % of Total Units by Ward
Not incorporated within Chicago Not incorporated within Chicago
17% - 50% 13.6% - 49%
50.1% - 55% 49.1% - 55%
55.1% - 81.6% 55.1% - 67.2%

2000 Rental Units as a Percent of Total Units by Ward 2007 Rental Units as a Percent of Total Units by Ward

6 The Metropolitan Tenants Organization

 Change in Hotline Conditions Requests

1995-1999: Conditions Requests

as a % of Total City Conditions Requests by Ward
Area not incorporated within Chicago
0.4% - 1.5%
1.6% - 2.4%
2.5% - 5.2%

1995-1999 Conditions Requests as a Percent of Total City

Conditions Requests by Ward

2000-2003: Conditions Requests 2004-2007: Conditions Requests

as a % of Total City Conditions Requests by Ward as % of Total City Conditions Requests by Ward
Not incorporated within Chicago Not incorporated within Chicago
0.4% - 1.5% 0.3% - 1.5%
1.6% - 2.4% 1.5% - 2.4%
2.5% - 4.4% 2.5% - 3.8%

2000-2003 Conditions Requests as a Percent of Total City 2004-2007 Conditions Requests as a Percent of Total City
Conditions Requests by Ward Conditions Requests by Ward

The State of Renters in the City of Chicago 7

 Foreclosures: Impacting Owners and Renters

2000 to 2007: % Change in Number 2008 MTO Foreclosure Requests

of Owner-Occupied Units by Ward vs. HUD Foreclosure Estimates by Ward, 2007-2008
Not incorporated within Chicago Not incorporated within Chicago
-52.9% - 0% MTO Foreclosure Calls
0.1% - 20% 167 - 497
20.1% - 191.2% 498 - 818
819 - 1,565

2000-2007 Percent Change in Owner-Occupied Units by Ward 2008 MTO Foreclosure Requests vs. 2007-2008 HUD Foreclosure
Estimates

8 The Metropolitan Tenants Organization

 Conclusion
Conclusion
The State of Renters in the City of Chicago has a “renters’ market.” But years of inattention to the
attempted to underscore the increased burdens needs of low and moderate-income renters, which
facing renters as a result of the changing conditions have only been exacerbated by stagnating incomes,
in the housing market. Areas that have long been suggest that these renters may be the last to benefit
dominated by rental properties now have relatively from increased overall vacancy rates. They continue
fewer renters than in the past; meanwhile, renter to suffer from an acute shortage of affordable rental
household levels have grown in neighborhoods units.
at the city’s periphery that have traditionally been
occupied by homeowners. In addition, many hard Local governments face severe constraints on
subsidies and renter services remain in areas that resources that prevent them from adequately
traditionally contained large numbers of rental units. addressing these problems. Rental markets and
Other communities, where reports of problems in problems can also span jurisdictional boundaries
rental housing are concentrated, are experiencing that render strictly local solutions ineffective. The
foreclosure distress. Finally, the number of scope of problems in the housing and financial
affordable rental units in the central parts of the city, markets requires leadership at the federal level.
where services, jobs, and transit are concentrated, The nation needs a comprehensive housing policy
has decreased; this spatial de-concentration makes to support renters and owners alike in accessing
it more difficult to reach renters with targeted and maintaining themselves and their families
interventions. in safe, decent, and affordable housing in stable
neighborhoods. If the current housing and economic
The Metropolitan Tenants Organization’s Hotline not crisis has taught us anything, it is that simply turning
only helps individual renters address challenges, it renters into owners is no guarantee of household or
also can be used to analyze market trends impacting community stability.
renters and can contribute to development of
effective programmatic responses. As the maps
clearly show, requests made to MTO’s Hotline have
proven to be indicators of issues facing renters
throughout the City of Chicago. Detailed analysis
of MTO’s Hotline data can help policy-makers
understand conditions facing renters, ensuring that
programs are developed which effectively target and
anticipate renters’ needs. Since data is collected
on an ongoing basis, this gives policy-makers
the opportunity to make real-time adjustments to
programs and respond to new challenges as they
appear. It allows the voice and needs of renters to
be included in policy decisions.

The primary goal of housing policy should be to

find ways to keep both renters and owners stable in
their homes. The impact of the current housing and
financial crisis on renters requires that the Obama
Administration be sensitive to their conditions and
the problems they face in the rental housing market.
Some higher income renters may be experiencing

The State of Renters in the City of Chicago 9