Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing

Vacant Properties & Crime Report

development — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:00:40 +0000

On an average day in Chicago last year, seven reported crimes took place in vacant properties. This constitutes a 48% increase in the number of crimes reported in Chicago’s vacant buildings between 2005-2012. After foreclosure banks and lenders often empty rental buildings of law-abiding, rent-paying families, resulting in scores of new vacant buildings. As a result, there has been an astronomical increase in the number of vacant properties in Chicago at the same time that crime in vacant buildings has been on the rise. Now the city is set to vote on an ordinance that will help address this problem by preventing future vacant properties throughout Chicago.

Following months of negotiations, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Alderman Mell, and the Keep Chicago Renting Coalition are promoting an ordinance that requires banks to compensate families they displace if they choose not to act as landlords following foreclosure. “This ordinance will help keep renters living in foreclosed properties in their homes, and will avoid an increase in vacant properties and crime throughout Chicago” said Tanya Pugh-Rizer, a leader with the coalition and a member with SEIU-HCII. The city’s housing committee has scheduled hearings on the ordinance on May 1st.

Read the Report

The Keep Chicago Renting Coalition includes: Albany Park Neighborhood Council, Action Now, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Metropolitan Tenants’ Organization, SEIU-HCII, Unite Here Local 1, Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest.

“Three Year Impact Assessment —Apartment Building Foreclosures and the Depletion of Rental Housing in Chicago”

development — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:51:10 +0000

The Tenants in Foreclosure Intervention Project releases 2011 Report

Mark Swartz, Legal Director

(312) 784-3520

Report

Fact Sheet

CHICAGO—Apartment building foreclosures continue to be filed at alarmingly high rates in Chicago, threatening to reduce the number of available housing units. This has serious implications as Chicago is already facing a rental housing shortage and an affordability crisis. LCBH reports that from 2009 to 2011, more than 50,000 rental units went into foreclosure in Chicago, which comprises nine percent of Chicago’s entire rental housing stock. The collective impact of unrelenting foreclosures over the last three years has not only impaired the rental housing market, but has had devastating effects on individual households, Community Areas, and the City as a whole. The loss of housing units strains an already overburdened and increasingly unaffordable rental housing market, potentially resulting in higher rates of homelessness, and families having to “double-up” or lease unsuitable units. Many neighborhoods are experiencing severe blight, and the City is incurring catastrophic expenditures to deal with empty buildings.

In the report and accompanying fact sheet, LCBH identified four issues within the foreclosure crisis that impact renters, Community Areas, and the City.

1. Lack of information regarding tenants’ rights during foreclosure leaving tenants susceptible to housing instability

2. Community-wide impact of Foreclosures on Apartment Buildings causing community destabilization

3. Vacant Buildings are a City-wide Problem and siphon substantial municipal funds

4. Banks Refuse to Keep Renters in their Homes exacerbating Chicago’s rental housing shortage

Do you have questions about renters’ rights?

development — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:53:26 +0000

LCBH Legal Director Mark Swartz teams up with Rebecca McDannald from Metropolitan Tenants Organization to take calls and answer: What are your legal rights as a renter in the Chicago area, and how can renters exercise those rights?

Cassandra Walker, A Tenant’s Story

development — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:08:43 +0000

From foreclosure crisis to a place to call home, read her story.

(Listen to Cassandra tell her own story at this year’s Annual Reception & Awards Ceremony YOUTUBE)

Cassandra Walker & LCBH Supportive Services Director, John Paul Beals

When Cassandra and her family first moved into a second floor unit in the Bronzeville neighborhood, the conditions were bearable, but after her landlord went into foreclosure, the building quickly deteriorated. Cassandra was never notified, but started to suspect the foreclosure because numerous people came to the building trying to collect rent.

Cassandra initially contacted LCBH because some people came to the apartment telling her that they were the new owners and she had to leave immediately. The LCBH Tenants in Foreclosure Intervention Project provided counseling to Cassandra, advising her that while it appeared the building had been lost by the landlord in foreclosure and had been taken over by a bank, it was less clear that the individuals demanding that she leave had any interest in the building. LCBH advised the tenant to demand proof of title, and to contact the police should anyone attempt to illegally remove her. LCBH also outlined the tenant’s right under federal law to live out her lease or to at least 90 days notice before she would have to move.

Other problems occurred as drug users and gangbangers hung out on the front porch at all hours. Cassandra contacted LCBH again after the police busted down her door and the outside security door in response to drug activity on the first floor. LCBH investigated title again and determined that the building title had recently transferred to an investor, the same individual who was now attempting to force Cassandra out of the building rather than assume his responsibilities under the lease. LCBH wrote a demand letter to the new landlord to make necessary repairs as provided by Chicago law and to cease and desist pursuing his threats of eviction and attempting to collect rent without notifying the tenant of the change in management and to provide her with at least 90 days to move.

The new owner refused to make the needed repairs to the unit, filed an eviction action, and even improperly filed a Motion for Use and Occupancy demanding rent during the eviction case. LCBH attorneys moved to dismiss the entire matter in that Cassandra had not been properly notified of the change in ownership and therefore could not be evicted for failure to pay rent, and was in fact entitled to 90 days notice.

At the same time, our Supportive Services team found Cassandra and her family a new apartment. Because of LCBH’s legal intervention Cassandra was able to save money while her case was being heard in court, and she was able to move without becoming homeless. Our legal and supportive services teams spent time at the building and even brought student media from Northwestern Medill School with them who documented Cassandra’s struggles trying to deal with complicated foreclosure issues.

LCBH attorneys negotiated a settlement, including relocation assistance and a complete waiver of back rent. Cassandra and her family have moved to a new apartment that they love where everyone feels more safe and secure.

If you enjoyed Night at the Opera…

development — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:58:07 +0000

The March, a Civil Rights Opera will be perfomed next at The North Park Covenant Church, Sunday January 15th at 2012 — Learn More.

Date: Sunday, January 15th 2012

Time: 6:00 PM

Please reserve your seat by emailing rsvp@civilrightsopera.com

**“Get a behind the scenes perspective of the personalities and rivalries of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement as they planned The March on Washington.”**

—–

View Photos Online

- from A Night at the Opera with LCBH, November 17th, 2011 at Th!nk Art Salon

—Learn more about The March: A Civil Rights Opera Project

Hearts for Housing 2012 – It’s Back!!

development — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:22:42 +0000

Thanks to all of our Hearts for Housing supporters, the event was a great hit! Visit soon for photos.

The Chicago business community has really stepped up this year in support of affordable housing! Raffle Prizes are rolling in everyday and you could be the winner of:

Two first round Blackhawks playoff tickets or tickets to Bulls, Cubs or White Sox games and more!
Membership to Chicago History Museum, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and more!
Salon and Spa Experiences at Kaya Day Spa, Maryanne Strokirk Salon and more!
Arlington Park Racetrack “Day at the Races” and other great experiences!
Gift Certificates to favorite upscale Chicago restaurants and more!
Theater tickets for great local venues like Lookingglass Theater and Theater on the Lake!
Donations from musicians like Wilco and Andrew Bird and so much more!
A one year membership with I-G0, the easiest way to rent a car!

You don’t have to be present to win so get your raffle tickets now!

For more information, contact Lauryn Burkhalter at (312) 784-3532 or lburkhalter@lcbh.org

LCBH Welcomes New Board Member Brad Pinne

development — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:56:37 +0000

Brad Pinne | Navigant Consulting | Disputes & Investigations

Brad Pinne is a Director in Navigant’s Disputes & Investigations practice who specializes in complex data analysis to facilitate the resolution of disputes and other business challenges. Brad was moved by the stories of numerous families that struggle daily with unsafe living conditions and the threat of eviction. Brad is excited about the opportunity to serve on the LCBH Board and is using his skills to help Supportive Services integrate their case information into LCBH’s Legal Server, which will streamline the submission of weekly and quarterly activity reports to the City of Chicago.

Learn more about the rest of the LCBH Board of Directors here.

Report Sheds Harsh Light on Apartment Building Foreclosures

development — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:35:45 +0000

READ MORE… Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2011

NPR Reports on TFIP Foreclosure Findings

development — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:28:21 +0000

LCBH was featured in this NPR report on Chicago rental foreclosures:

More than 10 percent of the rental units in some of Chicago’s community areas are at risk of foreclosure, and those neighborhoods are mostly in African-American and Hispanic communities, according to a new study.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing’s Tenants in Foreclosure Intervention Project found that in 2010, some 5,904 of the city’s apartment buildings went into foreclosure, affecting more than 17,000 units. The numbers are about the same as in 2009, the first year that the Lawyers’ Committee produced such a study.

The most-affected neighborhoods create a sort of “foreclosure belt” in Chicago, according to the Committee’s legal director, Mark Swartz.
…
The Committee has documented many instances where renters have been coerced into leaving before their leases are finished.

“There’ll be people at the building demanding that tenants leave,” said Swartz, “telling tenants that there’s going to be an immediate board-up, and putting notes all over the property saying get out, or there’ll be a board-up crew coming to put you out.”

Swartz says those actions are often illegal, and the city should renew efforts to educate tenants about their rights when their building is in foreclosure.

2010 Chicago Tenants in Foreclosure Report Released

development — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:06:24 +0000

June 2011- LCBH released its new Chicago Tenants in Foreclosure Report finding that in 2010 nearly 6,000 apartment buildings went into foreclosure in the City of Chicago, affecting more than 17,000 units.

Read the Tenants in Foreclosure Intervention Project’s Full Press Release, June 8, 2011 and then Download the full Chicago Tenants in Foreclosure Report. The Report includes Tenant Case Vignettes, as well as samples of illegal and misleading Notices that tenants have ben sent or found posted on their buildings.

Tenants who want to know their rights should read the Tenants in Forelosure Brochure, available in English, Spanish, or Polish.