More than a hundred people filled the Quarry Event Center in South Shore on Saturday, October 12, to share and hear testimonials about the effects of Chicago’s growing rent burden on low-income families and seniors. In a town-hall-style forum the Lift the Ban Coalition sought to mobilize interest and support for a continuing legislative push to lift Illinois’s decades-long ban on rent control and perhaps even establish rent control laws across the state.
“What we’re seeing is every income level is feeling squeezed right now,” Malone said after more than an hour of personal testimonials from the audience. An elderly woman from Rogers Park talked about being on 18 waiting lists for senior housing; a woman on disability with a monthly income of $751 described having to move in with a friend after her rent went up to $685; several residents of Chicago Housing Authority public housing developments complained about rising rents; a Chicago Teachers Union organizer said rising rents and evictions cause some schools to see 40 to 50 percent student turnover every year. Malone emphasized how important regulating rent increases could be for young people, especially boys vulnerable to gang violence. “When we hear the stories of people losing their lives in communities, what isn’t talked about is that oftentimes these are newcomers in these communities because they’re forced out of their neighborhoods,” he said. “[Rent control] is not an intellectual argument. This is literally the difference between life and death for some people, and I’m not overdramatizing.”
