{"id":171847,"date":"2025-08-24T14:01:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171847\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T14:01:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:01:33","slug":"aldermen-opting-out-of-new-northwest-side-tenant-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171847\/","title":{"rendered":"Aldermen opting out of new Northwest Side tenant powers"},"content":{"rendered":"

When David Amato walks into eviction court Thursday, he\u2019ll have a lot on his mind.<\/p>\n

Anger at the new landlord who he says plans to double rent after booting him and refused to negotiate after purchasing the Logan Square building where he lives. Pride in the six-month rent strike he and his tenants union are waging in response.<\/p>\n

And bitterness that a tool he believes would have given him and his neighbors the power to outmuscle a rich corporation to instead buy the 16-unit building themselves \u2014 and stay in their homes \u2014 materialized just months too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are just steamrolling this area. They\u2019re buying up buildings left and right, they\u2019re throwing people out of their houses and it\u2019s just devastating people,\u201d Amato said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a genius to buy a building. I think we could have.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the program progressive aldermen put in place this year to give longtime residents like Amato the power to try to keep their homes in the vicinity of the popular 606 trail<\/a> and other parts of fast-gentrifying Northwest Side neighborhoods is now suffering rollbacks.<\/p>\n

While the Northwest Side Preservation Ordinance aims to slow gentrification by giving tenants a \u201cright of first refusal\u201d and discouraging development that decreases density, a pair of aldermen are opting out. They say the still-nascent law that affects neighborhoods including Avondale, Humboldt Park and Logan Square severely disrupts real estate deals and strips homeowners of the right to control their property.<\/p>\n

At stake is a policy that advocates hope will serve as a citywide blueprint for creating and preserving more affordable housing and more renter power, the latest battlefront in a decades-long fight over the future of residential development in the area. <\/strong>But it may also be an example of how complicated maintaining and boosting housing affordability is as Mayor Brandon Johnson and other elected officials zero in on rising rents and home prices as a marquee issue.<\/p>\n

Last month, Aldermen Felix Cardona, 31st, and Gilbert Villegas, 36th, removed their wards from the pilot ordinance that is in effect through 2029, shrinking the covered area by around 10%.<\/p>\n

They argue the policy muddles the title insurance process, hinders loans and undercuts tax benefits. Altogether, they believe, the measure severely disrupts real estate transactions and strips homeowners of the right to control their properties.<\/p>\n

Cardona blasted the ordinance last month to City Council colleagues. He told them it falls short by failing to include the educational outreach and financial support needed to truly facilitate renter purchases. Most of the homes in the small part of his ward formerly touched by the ordinance are already owner-occupied, he said.<\/p>\n