Ald. Desmon Yancy (5) attends a City Council meeting on May 24, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

A group of progressive alderpeople are backing an ordinance that would restrict the scenarios under which a tenant could be evicted and require terminations of leases that aren’t the fault of the tenant to be accompanied by financial assistance from landlords.

The proposal, titled “Just Cause for Evictions,” was introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. However, it was referred to the Committee on Committees and Rules through a procedural maneuver, leaving the legislation in a place where ordinances are often sent to languish indefinitely. 

Ald. Desmon Yancy (5), who introduced the measure, said at a press conference Wednesday landlords "unjustly" terminating leases and evicting residents is an issue felt deeply in his ward, which covers Woodlawn, Hyde Park and South Shore, and “with fair housing and other protections being defunded at the federal level, local protections are more critical than ever.”

“In the spirit of fairness and equity, these amendments would limit the circumstances under which landlords can terminate leases, so that landlords will have to justify why they are ending a lease and give a reasonable notice should they choose not to renew,” Yancy said.  

Similar laws are in place in at least 11 states and 25 towns and cities, according to the coalition of groups backing the legislation, which first formed five years ago.

“The rising cost of housing and the affordable housing shortage and the lack of tenant protections have led to a growing number of evictions,” said Diane Limas, board vice president for Communities United, one of the coalition groups. “A Just Cause policy will promote residential stability by limiting the reasons upon which a landlord may evict a tenant.”

The ordinance (O2025-0017516) would stipulate that a landlord may only evict a tenant or choose not to offer a lease renewal under seven specific reasons, and it must provide the tenant with one of the reasons in order to terminate their lease. Landlords would be allowed to evict tenants during their lease terms for nonpayment of rent or for serious violations of lease terms — including use of the unit for criminal activity. Also, a tenant could be told to vacate for missing the deadline to sign a lease renewal offer.

Gone would be what housing justice advocates have described as the ability for landlords to tell tenants they’re not renewing their leases without any additional explanation, as the ordinance would mandate a notice of non-renewal to be accompanied by an eligible reason detailed by the ordinance — condominium conversion; the need to significantly repair the unit or building; removal from the residential market or demolition; or because the owner or their relative is moving into the unit. 

For those four “no-fault” non-renewal reasons, landlords would be required to provide the displaced tenants with relocation assistance equivalent to “five times the median monthly rent in the City of Chicago for a dwelling unit with the same number of bedrooms,” according to the ordinance. 

“There are people who buy buildings, displace [residents] and say, ‘Figure it out. Go find somewhere else. I'm not gonna help you.’ That ain't right, folks,” said Ald. Anthony Quezada (35), one of the legislation’s backers, at the press conference at City Hall Wednesday.  

Ald. Angela Clay (46) also said she supports the ordinance as a renter herself. 

“We have seen so many families, members of our communities, displaced,” Clay said. “And eviction has been used as a tactic, right? It has been used as a tactic to push poor people out of great neighborhoods.” 

For two of those no-fault reasons — an owner or relative moving in or the need to perform significant repairs — the landlord could avoid paying relocation assistance by providing the tenant with “a substantially equivalent replacement unit” if one is “vacant and available.” If available, it must be leased to the tenant “at a substantially similar rental rate as the tenant’s current rental agreement or at a rental rate agreeable to the tenant,” according to the ordinance. However, the tenant could still opt for relocation assistance instead. 

There are other stipulations proposed for the relocation fee.  

If the displaced household includes a child, person with disabilities or someone over the age of 55, $2,500 would be added to the relocation assistance total.  

Additionally, there’s some relief for smaller landlords who rent out owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units, who would be able to pay three months of rent instead of five, or the owner and tenant could “enter into a written agreement that allows the landlord to pay the relocation assistance fees, in whole or in part, by a reduction in rent, rent forgiveness, the waiver of rent, or other mutually agreeable method.”  

The measure would also overwrite much of the Fair Notice Ordinance, which was passed in 2020 and standardized the prior notice landlords must provide tenants ahead of rent increases and non-renewals. Under that ordinance, landlords must provide tenants with 60 days' notice if raising rent or terminating a lease if the tenant has lived in a unit for six months to three years and 120 days' notice for tenants that have lived somewhere for more than three years. 

The Just Cause ordinance would stipulate that landlords must provide 120 days' notice for most “no fault” non-renewal circumstances, except in cases where a court or government agency has ordered tenants to vacate a unit that falls below code standards. 

Additionally, rent increase notices would be more based on the amount of the increase rather than how long a tenant has lived in the building. Tenants experiencing a rent increase of 10 percent or more would get 120 days' notice, regardless of how long they’ve lived there, and tenants that have lived somewhere for at least three years would be entitled to 120 days' notice in all cases. Tenants being offered a rent increase under 10 percent would get 60 days' notice if they’ve lived there for less than three years. 

Tenants being offered rent hikes of at least 10 percent would be entitled to relocation assistance if they reject the new lease. 

The ordinance would also enshrine tenants’ permanent right to cure nonpayment of rent instead of allowing it as a one-time fix, as it currently stands. 

Mike Glasser, president of the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance, opposes the ordinance, saying in a statement: “Just Cause laws reduce rental housing supply by making landlords more risk-averse in their initial tenant selection, leading to stricter screening criteria that exclude marginally qualified renters who most need housing opportunities. When landlords know they can't easily end problematic tenancies, they compensate by demanding higher credit scores, income multiples, and co-signers — effectively locking out the very populations these laws aim to help.”