Blog: Chicago Evictions Data Portal

After a somewhat lengthy process, our newest staff attorney Sally Robinson was recently sworn in to practice here in Illinois.

Sally joined LCBH in May after moving to Chicago from New York City, where she held staff attorney and supervisory positions as a tenant-side housing advocate. Most recently, she was a managing attorney in housing at Legal Services of New York City, an organization that saw unprecedented growth in the wake of the New York passage of right to counsel for housing cases.

That experience is proving extremely beneficial. While waiting out the admittance process, in addition to her supervised assistance in eviction defense cases, Sally has been involved in LCBH’s advocacy work around Right to Counsel and Just Cause.

The City of Chicago’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate met today. The agenda included a quarterly progress report on the Department of Housing’s 5-year housing plan. Mark Swartz, LCBH’s Executive Director, provided the following statement on Chicago’s ongoing eviction problem:

Good Afternoon. My name is Mark Swartz and I am the Executive Director of Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing.

As we embark upon the new 5-year Housing Plan, I want to address the topic of eviction both as a driver of displacement of our most vulnerable citizens as well a threat to the Plan’s principals of diversity and equity between and among our communities. I also want to share with you a resource that LCBH designed to help understand Chicago’s eviction landscape.

On May 16 of this year, LCBH launched the Chicago Evictions data portal along with a series of 3 reports highlighting some of the impacts eviction has had on the City. The data show that since 2010, on average, there have been just over 23,000 evictions in Chicago each year – that’s about 1 in 25 renters and their families each year who are facing eviction.