Overview
- The City Council’s Housing Committee narrowly advanced Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Protecting Renters Ordinance after a Wednesday vote that followed the mayor’s removal of a 'just cause' eviction requirement and a relocation-pay provision.
- A rival FAIR ordinance led by Ald. Gilbert Villegas cleared the Zoning Committee on Thursday and raises the small-landlord threshold to 12 units while avoiding a new bureau and the proposed $20 per-unit registration fee.
- PRO would create a citywide rental registry, establish a Bureau of Rental Housing Services, ban many move-in and application fees, and levy a $20 annual registration fee per unit expected to raise about $22 million for inspections and tenant legal aid.
- City officials disagree over who should enforce the new rules, with Buildings and Housing leaders and several alderpeople saying their departments lack current staff or code-enforcement capacity, and critics warning new compliance costs could be passed to renters or push small owners to sell.
- Both measures could reach the full City Council as soon as next week, and the outcome will hinge on negotiations and votes with the mayor able to veto FAIR and FAIR backers needing 34 votes to override while the mayor needs 26 votes to secure PRO.