|
The council’s housing and real estate committee passed a
modified version of the ordinance by a vote of 12 to 9 on
Wednesday.
The measure creates a rental registry with tiered registration
fees for housing providers, although subsidized affordable
housing and owner-occupied buildings are exempted from the fees.
The ordinance also establishes a new Bureau of Rental Housing
Services within the city’s Department of Housing, makes a tenant
counsel pilot program permanent, formalizes a tenant bill of
rights and bans move-in, move-out and nonrefundable junk fees.
City officials estimate the registration fees will bring in
$22.4 million annually to support the new agency, additional
inspectors and other costs.
During the public comment period before the meeting, Tracii
Randolph said real estate was her family’s way to get out of
poverty.
“For anybody that’s trying to make it out of the hood to get
better and stand on their own and not depend on the government
system, you guys are making it extremely hard, and then we have
no choice but to add it to our tenants. We can’t afford it,”
Randolph said.
Alderperson Jessie Fuentes supported the ordinance and said 10%
of her constituents have a housing problem.
“This year alone, over 300 cases, a third of those cases
evictions or a violation of the housing code,” Fuentes said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the ordinance in July,
but city officials made several changes after hearing concerns
from rental housing providers, several of whom remain opposed.
Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance President Michael Glasser
said there is nothing in the ordinance that makes rents more
affordable.
“I’m very concerned that this ordinance, by adding a hundred or
so new rules and regulations and burdens, is going to be too
much for so many of our owners, and the temptation will be to
sell,” Glasser said.
Glasser said local owners get weekly calls from New York hedge
funds wanting to buy their properties.
Jon Kozlowski of the Chicagoland Apartment Association told the
council’s committee on housing and real estate the ordinance
will create more red tape and drive up costs for rental housing
providers.
“When operating costs rise, rents rise. Renters feel that impact
first and most directly, and you cannot say with a straight face
that shuffling fees to rent will help with affordability,”
Kozlowski said.
The city council is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
|
|
