Posted on 03/04/2019 6:46:02 AM PST by simpson96
Debra Miller considers herself and her husband Jimi lucky.
“We were only homeless 19 months,” she said Friday, recounting how she and her husband were evicted in 2010 when she became ill, lost her job and was unable to cover the cost of rent.
Almost a decade later, rents have only gotten more expensive in Chicago.
Miller is a member of the Lift the Ban Coalition — a group of community organizations whose fight to repeal Illinois’ two-decade ban on rent control is gaining momentum. She joined dozens of protesters Friday who demonstrated outside the downtown office of the Chicago Association of Realtors, which has opposed any effort at allowing rent control.
The protesters held banners saying “Lift the ban” and “Rent Control Now.” Two men dressed in suits and ties — one labeled “realtor,” the other labeled “politician” — threw fake money at each other.
(Debra Miller stands with a coalition of organizers rallying in support of lifting the ban on rent control.)(snip)
The 1997 Rent Control Preemption Act prohibits local governments from regulating the rise of commercial rents. (snip)
A more comprehensive rent control bill was brought forward by state Rep. Mary Flowers, a Democrat whose district includes part of Englewood. That legislation would create six rent control boards across the state and give tax incentives to landlords for improving properties.(snip)
In addition, voters in 18 precincts in four Northwest Side wards on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a non-binding, advisory referendum asking if the state should “lift the ban on rent control to address rising rents, unjust evictions and gentrification in our community.”
Between 63 and 79 percent of voters voted “yes” in each of those precincts.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
I’ll bet she would be the renter from hell.
I don't doubt many of them think everyone will get to live (for cheap) in a huge place, like the Millennials did on that TV show Friends... 
This website claims to have existed for >10 years:
Surprising that it’s not The Burn’s campaign site.
Does anybody here know whether rent control has ever been challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds?
Sure. You have cheap rent... if you can find a place to rent.
Chicago is LOSING population. Taxes keep on going up, so there is a high floor on what landlords can charge and stay solvent. NY found that introducing rent control REDUCES affordable housing stock.
Anyone who has read “The Art of the Deal” knows that a big part of the reason why Donald Trump did NOT follow in his father’s footsteps and build more affordable housing (outside of an early acquisition in Cincinnati) was because rent control. It was enough of a hassle to deal with preservationists on new luxury construction.
“Does anybody here know whether rent control has ever been challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds?”
If affirmative action was determined to be legal, why would then be any different?
Chicago apartment owners should start raising their rents now.
Then, if rent control goes into effect, they will have higher rental income, and it will also be easier for them to sell their apartment buuildings if they choose to do so.
Are not the greenies going to demolish all the cities and start over?
Oh, and remove the Airport..?
One day Hubby’s daughter and her husband showed up at our house (while hubby was working) to nonchalantly ask for money to help pay their PG&E bill. They walked in and both were holding huge Starbucks cups from the Starbucks down the street from our neighborhood. I told them the $10 they just spent on Starbucks would have helped them pay their bills. I drink my coffee out of a coffee pot I make here that costs about 3 cents per cup.....so no. lol
Yes, America’s growing permanent underclass flexing its political muscle. In much of the world these people would be hard at work paying their way; it is not “progress” that we maintain them at taxpayers’ expense with no contribution on their parts.
Successive generations learn quickly; work is for suckers. The only consolation is that half the people in that photo prey upon the other half; the primary incentive to work is to live in a safe area.
Same concept and same essential issue, but would be quite a different court case. In affirmative action the plaintiff would be somebody who didn’t get a job or didn’t get admitted to a school — a slippery matter and hard to prove in an individual case. With rent control it’s quite simple: This is my apartment building. My property. I own it. How can you tell me what I can and can’t charge somebody for the service of getting to live there?
Northwest side - get rich or get out. There are lots of cheap digs in Englewood or Austin.
Affirmative action was absolutely easy to prove in individual cases; the test scores themselves. Also, it wasn’t just the “non-preferred victim” impacted by affirmative action; companies are forced to hire useless placeholders to create a façade of “diversity” - and pay them on par with real workers.
As I understand it, property owners are already barred from discriminating in buildings of three or more units; they’ve already telling property owners what they may or may not do. I understand your point, but it is a question from another time; we’ve already conceded plenty of authority to our government overlords in terms of what they may dictate to us.
Last one out of Chicago won’t even need to turn off the lights.
—
They’ll all be shot out.
So many parts of Chicago are not bad enough yet, so they have to start making more parts of Chicago worse.
Government price dictates always work. Look at Venezuela.
The Free Shit Army is gaining strength....
How does rent control cover the unemployed? Why is ms Miller even part of this story?
“In addition, voters in 18 precincts in four Northwest Side wards...”
So like 6% of the population of the city? When they need to change state law to pass rent control? Ha!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.