Renters are still struggling almost a year after the pandemic began, but there are actions residents and lawmakers can take to minimize the pain.
By Justin Agrelo
(Art: Raziel Puma for City Bureau)
Long before COVID-19, eviction has been a problem in Chicago. Over the past decade, 1 in 27 renter households in Chicago has faced eviction each year, according to data from the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing, an organization that offers free legal services to Chicago residents facing eviction. Before the pandemic, the city saw more than 22,000 eviction cases a year, disproportionately impacting Black and brown communities.
The pandemic has only worsened this crisis, forcing Chicago to the brink of a housing disaster. According to research from Loyola University and LCBH, Chicago could see as many as 21,000 eviction filings in a single month once the eviction moratoriums are lifted. Despite the moratoriums, 5,472 evictions were filed in Chicago last year. These figures don’t account for the likely hundreds of people and families who have been forced from their homes in the shadows of the law.
Meanwhile, renters have relied mostly on limited federal funding and an eviction ban that has only weakened over time and that could incite a surge of eviction cases as soon as it expires. But it’s not too late to act. Here are four solutions offered by housing experts and advocates to keep people in their homes and prevent a housing crisis.
Rent freeze
For years, housing activists have fought to repeal Illinois’s rent control ban, a law that prohibits the government from putting any restrictions on the way property owners set rent. When the pandemic began, the Lift the Ban coalition shifted tactics; they called on Governor J.B. Pritzker to use his emergency powers to lift the rent control ban and freeze rent for struggling tenants—a move that could help keep the roughly one million Illinois residents who are currently vulnerable to eviction in their homes.
Though Pritzker campaigned on lifting the ban and supported a legislative repeal, he dismissed the activists’ demands, claiming that his executive powers did not extend that far.
But in a legal memo published in April 2020 in response to questions from Lift the Ban coalition members, lawyers at the firm Despres, Schwartz and Geoghegan, Ltd., argue that there are “a variety of ways'' the governor can provide rent relief that do not require the state legislature. According to the lawyers, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act allows Pritzker to either suspend rent himself or empower municipalities to do so on their own.
“The powers the governor has in an emergency like this are pretty broad,” says Will Bloom, a lawyer with the firm. “A solution could be crafted that gives tenants the protection they need without putting the burden on small homeowners who also need help.”
Emboldened by the legal analysis, the Lift the Ban coalition has regularly protested outside of Pritzker’s Gold Coast mansion, demanding he cancel rent. Last summer, the coalition set up their “Pritzkerville” encampment, which depicts the scene of an eviction, outside of eviction court.
“Everything has gotten 10 times worse in this last year,” says Brian Bennett, a community organizer with the coalition. “If you owe back rent because you lost your job due to COVID, the city can’t pass any laws that address that. They can dole a little federal funding, but we’re talking about billions of dollars.”
But political will for canceling rent is low. “Landlord associations are big donors,” Bloom says. “The Democratic party takes a lot of money from landlords. They don't want to do something that's going to anger the people whose donations they rely on.”
To change that political landscape, Bennett encourages Chicago residents to get more involved at a local level.
“We have representatives right here in Chicago representing these heavily renter, heavily evicted districts who are killing this legislation [to lift the ban],” Bennett says. “Sending emails or calling is not going to get the job done. People need to be joining coalitions together in order to show that there is a wide and deep constituency of renters.”
More money for struggling residents
Without a rent freeze, getting money into people’s hands is critical to keeping them housed once the eviction bans expire. Even before the pandemic, missed rent was a major precursor to eviction, with 82% of eviction cases in Chicago filed over non-payment of rent, often for less than $2,500, according to data from LCBH. Since the start of the pandemic, city and state governments have relied on emergency rent and mortgage assistance programs to keep people in stable housing.
Last year, the Chicago Department of Housing distributed more than $22 million in rental and mortgage aid, according to Daniel Hertz, the department’s policy director. Still, the DOH was only able to serve 10,421 households despite getting 96,300 requests in two rounds of applications (Hertz notes that some households may have applied in both rounds).
Illinois is preparing for another round of emergency aid after Congress allocated over $834 million to the state for rental assistance, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury. It’s not clear how much of that will come to Chicago, but Hertz expects it to be “significantly” more than what the city received last year. Whatever the number, Hertz says that last year’s rush to get money to hard-hit residents has made the city more prepared this time around, and a new application will likely open in late February.
Mortgage forbearance for landlords
Millions of U.S. landlords are eligible for COVID-19 mortgage forbearance programs, which allow them to suspend or reduce mortgage payments temporarily, either through the federal government or private lenders. Tenants struggling to pay rent could suggest the programs to their landlords; mortgage forbearance could lessen the burden on landlords to collect rent, and some programs include specific protections for renters. Deadlines for these programs are coming up in February and March, so property owners should contact their mortgage servicer soon—they can find out who services their mortgage at http://bit.ly/cbmortgage or http://bit.ly/cbmortgage2.
Landlords with government-backed loans (FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) can defer their mortgage payments for up to a year if they’ve experienced hardship as a result of COVID-19. These programs forbid landlords of buildings with five or more units from charging late fees or evicting tenants who can’t pay rent during the forbearance period. Landlords with FHA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans must also provide tenants with flexible repayment plans and inform tenants of the new protections.
The programs aim to keep tenants in their homes while preventing property owners from going into foreclosure. Entering into forbearance will not hurt the property owner’s credit nor will they be charged late fees or interest on the loan during the forbearance period.
Program eligibility, tenant protections and deadlines depend on each lender and are subject to change, so consumer protection lawyer Kathleen Robson, who has worked with Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, suggests the best course of action is for "people to call their lenders and request the forbearance."
Minimizing the harm of eviction filings
In January’s lame duck session of the Illinois General Assembly, a COVID-19 housing bill stalled that would have (among other types of relief) limited public accessibility of certain eviction records, including any evictions filed during the pandemic, in addition to extending the statewide eviction ban and closing some loopholes in the existing ban. State Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago) sponsored Illinois Senate Bill 3066, known as the COVID-19 Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program Act, and vows to introduce it again in February when legislators reconvene.
“People shouldn’t have an eviction record that harms them for the next 10 years because they couldn’t pay rent during COVID,” Ramirez says. “I'm really worried that while we fight for [a rent freeze], people are going to have a record that will make it difficult for any landlord to want to rent to them.”
Related: Chicago Could Be the Latest City with a Just Cause for Eviction Law
Landlords file evictions at much higher rates in Black communities than in other parts of the city. Black women are especially vulnerable. In some cases, an eviction filing can stay in a renter’s credit history even after the case is dismissed or ruled in the renter’s favor. According to data from LCBH and Housing Action Illinois, a policy group working to expand the state’s supply of affordable housing, more than 15,000 people each year end up with a public eviction record despite having no eviction order or other judgment against them.
Ramirez’s bill received bipartisan support in the House, but failed to make it to the Senate floor for a vote. She encourages Chicago residents who want to support the bill to call their state senator and representative and demand they back it.
“This bill is a health protection, it's removing barriers to housing, it’s a criminal justice bill,” Ramirez says. “We desperately need to make sure that it passes. This could potentially mean over a million people will be impacted if it doesn’t.”
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