A sweeping anti-gentrification ordinance for Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood that would include giving tenants the right of first refusal and establish requirements for just cause evictions in some circumstances is headed to a city council vote Thursday.
Its similarities to another hotly-debated anti-gentrification effort, known as the Northwest Housing Preservation Ordinance, all but ensure real estate industry groups will rally against the proposal and try to sway aldermen to vote against it.
“These ordinances do nothing to help constituents and in fact cause harm,” the Kiser Group’s Andy Friedman said in a LinkedIn post. “If Chicago is to solve its housing issues, it will be from the government encouraging development, not crusading against it.”
The Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance of Chicago launched a public comment campaign regarding the measure, known as the Jackson Park Housing Pilot Ordinance, this week.
Chicago City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate reviewed the details of the South Shore ordinance Wednesday, in a process that the NBOA accused of being rushed through the system because it was posted publicly for the first time the day before the committee meeting, which was also during the Jewish high holiday Rosh Hashanah.
The ordinance increases funding to some existing programs and places new restrictions on landlords..
The wide-ranging ordinance includes requirements that landlords give tenants the right of first refusal when selling a building, with time set aside for them to form a tenants union and secure financing.
It also bars landlords from evicting tenants for any reason beyond breaches of lease agreements and illegal activity, when planning to sell a building.
Details of the ordinance were still being amended shortly before the meeting but were not discussed at length during the meeting.
The landlord requirements will apply to a pilot area of the South Shore and are likely to become a sticking point for real estate groups.
“It makes it more difficult for us to not only do new transactions in an area like that that is gentrifying and we would normally target, but it also makes it difficult on the operational side for us,” said Russell Rydin, COO of nonprofit affordable housing development firm the Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation.
Other provisions in the ordinance increase funding for existing programs like property tax debt relief and programs aimed at reducing costs of rehabilitating residential properties.
The proposal by 5th Ward Alderman Desmon Yancy passed the housing committee unanimously despite prior attempts to pass a similar measure stalling for nearly two years.
Aldermen expressed support for the measure, citing the impending opening of the Obama Presidential Library as a harbinger of change.
“If we don’t keep our eye on the South Shore, we will lose it,” 4th Ward Alderman Lamont Robinson said. “And if we don’t keep our eye on Bronzeville, we will lose it.”
Editor’s note: this post was updated to correct which provisions were excluded from the prior version of the Jackson Park Housing Pilot Ordinance known as the South Shore Housing Preservation Ordinance.