Activists, Unions Call on Elected Officials to Take Action on Housing

On Wednesday, April 15, 2020, a group of rent control activists gathered in front of the Thompson Center to urge Governor J.B. Pritzker to use his emergency powers to repeal the statewide ban on rent control. The group, abiding by the proscribed social distancing mandate, were spaced several feet a part from one another as they called on Pritzker to lift the ban and institute a rent and mortgage holiday for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was a simple message: how can you demand a stay at home order if many aren’t able to stay in their home?

Over 50% of those living in Cook County are housing burdened and this is before the Covid crisis. This means that over 50% of cook county residents spend more than 30% of their income a month on housing. As businesses have shuttered against the stay at home order, unemployment claims top 201,000 in Illinois and the U.S. is reaching Great Depression levels of unemployment at nearly 22 million claims filed nation wide.

The federal government stimulus package, in large part, directs public dollars to prop up big businesses and leaves $1,200 for American workers. In many places, this is barely enough to cover rent or a mortgage payment for one month.

It is unclear how much elected officials have given thought to what is shaping up to be a housing crisis.

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has cited the 1997 Rent Control Preemption Act, which prevents municipalities in Illinois from instituting rent control locally, as preventing the city from seeking housing relief for residents. At a press conference on March 19, Mayor Lightfoot asked property owners to ‘give tenants some grace’ during this period. Eviction cases in the city and state were put on temporary pause.

The Lift the Ban Coalition, which helped to organize the April 15th protest, is a group of community organizations mostly based in Chicago and is working to repeal the Rent Control Preemption Act. Most of the work the Coalition has done up to this point has been centered around urging the state legislature to pass legislation to repeal the ban. The real estate industry has been the Coalition’s major opponent in this fight and worked in concert with the pro-corporate group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), to help pass the original 1997 bill. ALEC is known for utilizing its largess to pass pro-corporate and right wing agenda to pass legislation across the United States (such as the infamous ‘Stand Your Ground” law).

On April 9, 2020, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 911, which represents Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) workers and is supportive of the union, called on Governor Pritzker to use his emergency authority to take action and address the growing housing crisis amid Covid-19 Pandemic.

“We’re the experts on affordable housing.” Said AFGE Local 911 President Patrick Cano. “Our members know everything there is to know about making housing safe and affordable. And right now, we need the Governor to take these steps to help keep people safe, inside, and to have housing during and after this crisis.”

“Millions of people in Illinois are worried about how they are going to make ends meet while their business is closed, while their work is closed, or since they’ve been laid off. If we don’t take action now, we risk people continuing to spread the virus as they seek income to pay rent or we risk the virus spreading as we face an eventual avalanche of eviction notices when the shelter-in-place order is lifted.”

Gov. Pritzker has stated that he does not have the authority to lift the ban. Yet, according to a legal memo being circulated by the Lift the Ban campaign authored by law firm Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan LTD., Governor Pritzker has the power under his emergency declaration to enact a rent moratorium as well as the power to allow municipalities to regulate rent.

According to Cano, “This would be a step towards responding to the crisis of affordable housing that the crisis of the virus is compounding exponentially.”

AFGE National Vice-President Dorothy James said, “Pandemics like this show the consequences of not fully investing in housing and other needs. The Trump administration has been more focused on union-busting, and slashing the federal budget while giving tax breaks to the rich, when it should have been listening to doctors and experts to minimize the spread of this virus.”