Could the FAIR ordinance and Protecting Renters proposal combine? | The Chicago Report

[00:00:00]We are revisiting the renter's rights debate as well tonight. Two competing ordinances are highlighting division within City Hall. Uh Mayor Johnson is pushing for penalties on landlords and eviction protection. That's called the Protecting Renters Ordinance, which she introduced last month. But, there is a counter plan called the Fair Ordinance.

[00:00:19]It was brought forward by real estate backed aldermen who don't want fees and restrictions to reduce housing supply.

[00:00:26]Last night, we talked to Jonah Karsh with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization about why some renters groups and Alderman Cappleman are against that.

[00:00:35]>> I don't think this ordinance is a balance at all. I think it was drafted uh in consultation with corporate packs like One Future Illinois and not with uh renters that are going to need assistance. And I wish that if Alderman Viegas was looking to protect renters that he would have reached out to the numerous tenant advocacy organizations, whether it be MTO or the Law Center for Better Housing, who've been working on this with the mayor's team for months, if not years.

[00:00:58]>> Tonight, we are hearing from the other side. 36th Ward Alderman Gilbert Villegas wants to clear up what he's calling misconceptions about the alternative plan. As you can see, he's right here with me on Zoom. Thank you so much for your time.

[00:01:11]>> Thank you, Anita, but I got to push back right off the bat by saying that this is not about landlord backed aldermen.

[00:01:17]These are aldermen that are on the ground talking to housing providers as well as the the renters, informing them of what the pro ordinance really is. The way that it's drafted now with all types of penalties and and uh relocation fees would ultimately end up costing renters, which would be a rent increase.

[00:01:35]Um so, we're just educating voters uh and residents of the city of Chicago that there is an alternative. Um listen, the mayor's office already reached out and said, "Hey, uh Chairman, we we think that there's a bunch of things in there in your ordinance that we didn't take into consideration. I know our ordinance talks about protecting renters, but it also talks about the supply side, which which really what is really squeezing uh the the supply of housing that's available which in turn is is is forcing rents up.

[00:02:04]And so this is not about corporate backed or landlord backed. These are aldermen that have gotten together and have spoken to their residents, to their housing providers in their specific wards about the issues that ultimately pro will will have a negative impact on on those folks. And so that's what this is about. So listen, those those uh politics is going to happen and so we're talking about policy. However, if if we know we're on the right track when the mayor's office is reaching out wanting to figure out how to get to some type of compromise.

[00:02:34]>> Well, you know, um the biggest complaint and one thing that didn't really hear you address right there from these tenant advocates seems to be that the tenant organizations were left out of the room when this bill was written. So can can you talk about that? You know, yes, they talk about working with One Future Illinois, but just that the advocates these tenant advocates were not in or a part of the discussion.

[00:02:59]>> So so as as the the young man stated, he had been working for working with the mayor's office for months and even years. Our intention is to set a table up as well with the with the housing advocates and the tenants as well to figure out what's what's a what's what's the right approach? What's the balanced approach here to make sure that ultimately renters don't get stuck with their rents being increased because at the end of the day the the pro fees and fines that are in there are ultimately passed down to the renters. And so we're trying to strike a balance. And so we will be meeting with those tenant organizations, but remember the mayor's office been working on this for months for even years.

[00:03:40]This got dropped on us last minute and so as a council we decided hey, we need to put forward something based on what we're hearing off the introduction of pro. And so this was our first attempt to do that.

[00:03:52]Anytime you have a legislative branch that's pushing back and the uh on the executive branch, uh people are going to win uh cuz it's a balance. And what we we know is that what we proposed, we're on the right track uh and open to conversations uh and this is not the final product.

[00:04:08]>> So, when you say you're open to conversations and you did talk about striking a balance, how do you do that?

[00:04:14]How how do you protect renters without causing or exacerbating a housing crisis? I mean, how do you blend these the the pro versus fair? How how do you blend that into one?

[00:04:27]>> So, here, let's talk about this. So, in pro, you have the relocation fees, which are in the thousands of dollars.

[00:04:36]So, just like Trump thought that tariffs the companies were going to eat it, the mayor thinks that by putting these unfunded mandates on housing providers, that they're going to go ahead and eat it. They're going to pass it on to the renter.

[00:04:49]Pro as written right now is going to going to raise rents for renters. And so, the balance that we're trying to strike is making sure that we're protecting renters, that we're not causing rents to go up, but we're also putting forward an opportunity on the supply side, which is really what's the driving factor around why these costs are going up. We see what's happened in Austin, Nashville, and Phoenix, where they've built. And when they've built, they've renters have renters have become uh and they've had an opportunity to shop uh for for property cuz there's an abundance of property. And so, that's how you bring down rents by increasing the supply and how you protect renters is making sure that that we're following the the renter landlord tenant ordinance that's in place. And so, that's what you got to do. What we're seeing right now with the creation of a new a creation of a new department is just more red tape. Um, what we what we have to do is address the supply side. We do that. We have to make sure that we're protecting renters.

[00:05:47]We do that in our ordinance. The ordinance that we propose is not going to lead to a rental increase like the mayor's. And that's And that's why we're concerned is because if if the mayor's team thinks that by imposing these large fees that the renters the housing providers are going to absorb that, they're they're they're wrong.

[00:06:04]They're going to pass it on. Also, we have a tiered approach. We don't we don't treat every landlord like they're Blackstone or JP Morgan. We treat some of the housing providers that are the smaller ones Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and Mrs. Stone like the small business that they are.

[00:06:20]And so, we've got to make sure that we're putting a balance hence the name of the ordinance is fair.

[00:06:25]And we look forward to working with our colleagues to educate them more on this ordinance.

[00:06:29]And we have a majority of the city council that supports this. But also, we want to make sure that we're involving tenants. And we want to make sure we're the housing providers, developers, builders, people that want to invest in the city.

[00:06:39]This ordinance right now, as we're trying to show that demonstrate that the city Chicago's open for business. This scares people, especially investors that want to build housing here because how do you put forward a in your pro forma a relocation fee in some cases up to $10,000 per person per unit. It's just the math is not mathing. And so, we got to make sure that there's common sense.

[00:07:01]And that's why the city council put forward this alternative because we think there is an opportunity to talk.

[00:07:07]And we've already seen the mayor's office reach out, which means that there's an appetite for there. And so, we want to see what he wants to include our ordinance so that we can get our ordinance passed.

[00:07:15]>> Alderman Villegas, thank you for coming on the show and we'll be watching to see if a compromise can be struck.

[00:07:21]>> I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Have a great evening.

[00:07:22]>> You too.