WOODLAWN — A coalition of South Facet leaders and advocates are throwing their assist behind a sweeping ordinance to guard residents from rising rents and housing discrimination in South Shore as builders eye the lakeside group.
The Jewish Council on City Affairs and Southside Collectively, a Woodlawn-based grassroots group, led a City Corridor for Housing Justice Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, 6400 S. Kimbark Ave. in Woodlawn, joined by Alds. Desmon Yancy (fifth) and Lamont Robinson (4th) and State Sen. Robert Peters.
The three-hour discussion board targeted on the proposed South Shore Housing Preservation Ordinance, which goals to supply comparable protections to South Shore residents because the Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance. That 2021 ordinance was handed to guard low-income renters and present owners amid building of the Obama Presidential Heart in close by Jackson Park, which introduced new growth to the neighborhood.
South Shore has additionally been focused by builders because the Obama Presidential Heart’s opening nears. Roughly 61 % of renters within the neighborhood are burdened by housing prices whereas 34 % of house owners are, in line with a examine from the College of Illinois Chicago. There are twice as many renters on the Southeast Facet than there are owners, in line with the examine.
One longtime home-owner at Sunday’s city corridor who didn’t give her identify informed the group that builders have been asking to purchase her residence “twice every week” since building of the Obama Presidential Heart began.
“To the builders I say, ‘Hell no am I going to promote my home to you,’” she mentioned.
Different elements of the proposed South Shore ordinance embrace:
- Reserving 166 city-owned vacant heaps in South Shore for reasonably priced rental housing. Three-quarters of the proposed developments could be reasonably priced for very low-income renters, which means households incomes 30 % or much less of the space median earnings, or $33,630 for a four-person family.
- Modifying elements of the 2021 reasonably priced necessities ordinance for South Shore, similar to stopping builders from paying to bypass reasonably priced housing necessities and reserving extra items for very low-income renters.
- Banning move-in charges and inserting caps on rental utility charges and safety deposits.
- Creating an Workplace of the Tenant Advocate to signify tenants in court docket or in administrative instances, educating renters about their rights and offering emergency housing and relocation help, amongst different roles.
- Investing hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in packages to redevelop vacant houses and residence buildings into reasonably priced housing, give grants to owners for repairs and supply down fee help.
- Reserving most of a city-owned vacant lot at 63rd Road and Blackstone Avenue for reasonably priced housing.
A one-page temporary of the proposal has been shared right here.
Yancy has lengthy supported the ordinance since its introduction in 2023, however the invoice has stalled in Metropolis Corridor. Sunday’s city corridor aimed to reignite group curiosity within the proposal.
“We’ve got an incredible imbalance between renters and landlords on this metropolis, significantly South Shore, which has the highest eviction charge within the metropolis regardless of a lot of the inhabitants being low earnings,” Yancy mentioned in the course of the city corridor. “We even have an growing older home-owner inhabitants within the South Shore. We’ve got growing older houses within the South Shore that have been constructed 120 years to final 100 years, so lots of them are falling aside.”
Yancy went on to name builders shopping for up property within the neighborhood “predators” who’re concentrating on a weak group. Earlier this month, tenants in South Shore buildings previously managed by CKO Actual Property demanded hire reimbursements, shifting help and an finish to their leases with out penalty after they accused the corporate of abandoning its South Shore properties after mismanaging them for months.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has vowed to assist neighbors of their struggle for housing protections, however has mentioned little about how he’ll accomplish that. Johnson urged advocates final 12 months to develop their motion “past the voices which are already satisfied” of the necessity for reasonably priced housing.
Voters in 4 South Shore precincts overwhelmingly supported protections like these outlined within the ordinance in a non-binding poll query in November. Related questions on housing protections have been on some South Facet voters’ ballots in 2019 and in 2023, garnering assist from practically 90 % of voters in every election.
A Simply Trigger for Eviction ordinance was additionally floated in the course of the assembly, aiming to guard tenants from “unfair” evictions. The ordinance has already been adopted in 11 states, together with California and New York.
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