Friday, October 17, 2008

Chicago Community Congress of Tenants
Kicks off Foreclosure Campaign

As the onslaught of foreclosures wreaks havoc on Chicago’s housing stock, most of the attention and programs have gone to homeowners. However, thousands of renters are having their rights violated and being displaced from their homes all over the city. While there have been some efforts to aid renters involved in foreclosure, much more is required if the displacement is to be prevented and affordable housing preserved.

In August, the MTO Tenant Congress voiced its concern about the impact of foreclosure on tenants and voted to take action. As no one can speak for tenants better than the tenants themselves, MTO and the Tenant Congress kicked off the foreclosure campaign on September 11th, with a summit titled “Foreclosure: A Tenant’s Perspective”. Gathering at the Swift Mansion, tenant leaders and organizers from throughout the city shared their experiences on what kinds of issues tenants were facing and discussed the impacts of rental foreclosures on communities, tenants and landlords. Tenants expressed concern over issues such as fear of homelessness, losing security deposits, utility shutoffs, degenerating building conditions and the resulting stress, and also spoke to the community impact such as declining property values, an increase in drug dealing due to the vacant lots, and declining property taxes sapping school funding. The participants also came up with a list of suggestions to address the problems including disclosure of a landlord’s financial status at the time a lease is signed, increased education for tenants and property buyers, and strengthening laws that protect tenants.

Going forward, MTO hopes to develop these ideas into legislation and programs to address the problems of tenants in foreclosure and to work with other organizations across the city to face the problems in a holistic and systemic manner. For more information about your rights as a tenant involved in foreclosure or how to get involved in this campaign please contact Jerett Yan at (773) 292-4980 or jerett@tenants-rights.org.