Category: Original Research

New Laws for 2018 Affecting Chicago Renters

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You may not know it, but on the first Tuesday of every month we send out an email newsletter to a bunch of our friends and customers. Normally we do not duplicate content between the newsletter and the blog. However, given that the two audiences do not really overlap and that this month's newsletter dedicated a substantial amount of time to the new laws that went into effect in the state of Illinois and city of Chicago, we are reproducing that section of the newsletter for our article this week.

With the start of the new year many new laws have gone into effect at the federal, state and local level. Of particular interest to Chicago renters are the following:

Federal

New Tax Laws. Of particular concern for renters, especially low income renters, are new federal income regulations that are predicted to decrease the amount of available funds for charitable donations. While many charitable individuals make donations for personal reasons, there is no denying that their tax-deductible nature has been an incentive for many years. With more money going to taxes, fewer incentives to itemize deductions and more limits on charitable tax deductions, non-profits may struggle in the coming year. This includes service organizations that help low-income renters with many facets of daily life and in times of crisis. Continue reading New Laws for 2018 Affecting Chicago Renters

Published by

Kay Cleaves

RentConfident’s Top Content of 2017

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52 Blog Entries. 52 Header Graphics. 12 Newsletters. 3300 visits. Despite cutting our articles in half this year by eliminating Monday posts, our readership has grown by a whopping 35% in 2017. Some of you like, comment or share our posts on social media. Some are agents who send our articles to their renting or landlord clients. No matter how you found us, as we close out 2017 I would like to thank you for reading and for all that you do to help spread the word that pay-what-you-can consumer protection for renters does exist in Chicago.

Since we have so many new faces around here, I thought I would hop on the bandwagon of year end round ups with a guided tour of our most popular articles from the past year. If you're looking for a good place to start in all of our content, some of these might serve as good jumping-off points for your journey. These are provided in a roughly chronological order rather than in order of popularity. Continue reading RentConfident’s Top Content of 2017

Published by

Kay Cleaves

The Growing Cultural Disconnect in Apartment Architecture

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A few years ago I heard tell of a wealthy family from India who purchased real estate in a West Loop loft building. There were about five separate multi-generational family clusters all living together. They jointly purchased an entire floor of the building - five or six separate condominiums - and combined them into a single living space. The American-born Realtor who told me of the deal did so with a tone of "can you believe those crazy immigrants would do something like that?" Buried in this attitude, not far below the surface, is an inherent problem between modern US residential building practices and the cultural traditions of the people who live in them.

A lot of news ink has been spilled lately about new construction of apartment buildings in downtown Chicago after a lengthy slow period. In reaction to these stories I see comments about the tiny size of the apartments, the "Transit-oriented design", and how no average renter will be able to afford this new luxury housing. "Tiny boxes very high up" is how a friend of mine describes them. When you compare these new buildings with the vintage walk-ups that cover the city outskirts you can see the results of a clear shift in American attitudes towards outsiders and towards themselves. Continue reading The Growing Cultural Disconnect in Apartment Architecture

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Will the Renting Aldermen Please Stand Up?

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Midway through the month of June, a Facebook friend in Massachusetts shared a post from a man by the name of David Perelman. Perelman was running for a spot on the city council of Waltham, MA. The campaign page has since been deleted, but I snagged a copy of the text as it seemed of interest to RentConfident readers. It read, in part, as follows:

Dear Friends,

I am writing to inform you of unforeseen circumstances that have arisen and will affect the campaign going forward. Recently, I received a sudden and completely unexpected notice that my landlord would be selling the entire property where my apartment is housed this summer, rather than renew a multi-year lease as was previously discussed. Given the short notice and the terms of our current agreement, it has become impossible to assume I will still be able to continue living at the same address in Waltham. I have spent the past week searching for alternative housing in Ward Eight that could be secured in the next couple of months but those attempts have proven unsuccessful. Given these extenuating circumstances, it is with a heavy heart that I must suspend my campaign for Waltham City Council.

This of course made me wonder: could something of this nature happen in Chicago? After all, Chicago has residency requirements for all full time city employees. Could a landlord change the face of city government by selling their building? Does the residency requirement have a clustering effect on city employees? Does it affect the visibility of renters within government affairs? Continue reading Will the Renting Aldermen Please Stand Up?

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Apartment Hunting for Overweight Renters

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According to the US Center for Disease Control's 2014 survey, 29.3% of Illinois adults are obese, up from 27.1% in 2011. An additional 34.5% were considered to be "overweight" but not obese. As a point of comparison, they reported that about 15% of Illinois adults smoke cigarettes. Obesity is more prevalent among some racial minorities: about 44% of black adults and 35% of Hispanic adults are obese in Illinois. Obesity is also far more common in lower income brackets - this means that renters are more likely than owners to be severely overweight.

Obese renters have to make special considerations when searching for housing. They may encounter discrimination from landlords, even though severely obese individuals - those weighing at least twice the norm for their height - are considered disabled and therefore protected by the ADA. But not every overweight renter meets the threshold for "severely obese," and nobody wants their housing search to end with a discrimination lawsuit.

Today we'll be focusing on the house hunting concerns of the overweight renter, with special consideration for those who weigh over 300 pounds. Some of you are planning to lose weight. Others of you may be unable to do so, or may not care. We're not here to judge. No matter your opinion of your weight, if you're obese during your housing search you need to be aware of how your size may impact your available options. Continue reading Apartment Hunting for Overweight Renters

Published by

Kay Cleaves