Avalanche of Evictions Could Leave Chicago Renters with Nowhere to Go by Wendy Rosen
Thousands of Chicago renters facing eviction when the pandemic eviction moratorium ends may find it tough to find an affordable place to live. Roughly 21,000 evictions that would have otherwise been filed in 2020 are predicted to be filed when the moratorium expires. Prior to the pandemic, Chicago’s average monthly eviction rate was 1,500. This dire prediction from the report, “Eviction Filings, Unemployment and the Impact of COVID-19,” was presented by Peter Rosenblatt, associate professor, Loyola University Chicago, Department of Sociology, at a Dec. 17, 2020 virtual town hall held by Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing (LCBH). Based on actual data and predictive modeling for 2020, researchers found a statistically significant relationship between unemployment one month and the number of evictions the next month. “Renters may find themselves owing a significant amount of back rent over several months and at this point landlords may well file an eviction,” Rosenblatt said. “So, the question we’re looking at -- will there be this huge wave or tsunami of eviction filings once the moratorium lifts?” LCBH recommends immediate relief for those facing eviction, including increasing rental assistance, extending the eviction moratorium, and sealing COVID-19-related eviction court records. Though the COVID-19 eviction moratorium keeps cashstrapped tenants housed for now, they’ll still owe back rent when the moratorium ends. How tens of thousands of renters who have suffered job loss will pay their debts remains a question. Prior to the pandemic, the Chicago Department of Housing’s (DOH) Inclusionary Housing Task Force identified a “longstanding affordable housing crisis with a citywide
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shortage of nearly 120,000 affordable homes,” according to the Task Force report. The 2008 housing crisis kindled the current affordable housing shortfall as a surge of foreclosures prompted developers to purchase bargain properties and convert them into luxury residences. “What we learned is scary. We learned that we lost hundreds of thousands of [affordable] homes and rental units since the last housing crisis,” said Noah Moskowitz, senior community organizer, housing, ONE Northside. “And now we have hundreds of thousands of tenants in Illinois at risk of eviction. Small and medium-sized landlords won’t be able to hold on.” Moskowitz joined community members, landlords, advocates, attorneys, and Alds. Maria Hadden, (49th), Andre Vasquez, (40th), Byron Sigcho-Lopez, (25th), and Matt Martin, (47th), at the livestream event, “We Won’t Get Fooled Again: Tenants Rights, the last housing crisis and what we can do about this.” Participants at the Feb. 6 event, organized by the Chicago Housing Initiative, seek to strengthen housing ordinances to protect Chicago’s vulnerable residents. Advocates are concerned that Chicago could lose more affordable units as large entities snap up properties from small landlords who may face foreclosure or bankruptcy when tenants can’t pay rent.
