PROACTIVE RENTAL INSPECTIONS

The Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance (CHHO) is a citywide proactive rental housing inspection program that would:

Improve the health of Chicago families
Create a citywide building registry for all rental homes
Begin as a 5-year pilot phase in 4 wards
Institute fair and regular inspections every 3 years

Chicago renters should not get sick or die because of preventable health hazards. Unlike other major cities, Chicago does not regularly inspect buildings for health or safety issues. Homes are only inspected when there is a complaint, and there is currently a huge backlog. Meanwhile, Chicago families continue to live in unsafe housing or are being forced to move out.

Major cities across the country are adopting proactive rental inspection programs to address issues such as absent, negligent owners. Programs require owners to register properties. Cyclical inspections occur to ensure compliance with existing building codes. The following cities have already implemented proactive inspection programs and we hope to see Chicago on this list soon!

Los Angeles, CA • Sacramento, CA • Boulder, CO • Cedar Falls, IA • Des Moines, IA • Iowa City, IA

Bloomington, IL • Mount Prospect, IL • Peoria, IL • Waukegan, IL • West Chicago, IL • Ann Arbor, MI

Grand Rapids, MI • Lansing, MI • Port Huron, MI • Minneapolis, MN • Easton, PA • Philadelphia, PA

Portsmouth, VA • Seattle, WA • La Crosse, WI • Milwaukee, WI

HEALTH IMPACTS OF HAZARDOUS HOUSING CONDITIONS

According to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, a little over half of all Chicagoans are renters. In 2019 renters made more than 30,000 complaints for occupied blight and other habitability issues, with most complaints coming from the South and West Sides. The National Center for Healthy Housing reports that compared to renters in other cities, Chicagoans face higher-than-average rates of hazardous housing conditions such as water leaks, HVAC and plumbing equipment breakdowns, sewage issues, and broken plaster or peeling paint problems. The lack of a rental property registration system exacerbates Chicago's housing crisis and puts families at risk.

Impact of Hazardous Housing

EXCESS MOISTURE AND LEAKS

Environmental issues like dust mites, mold, and poor ventilation can cause allergic reactions in tenants. They can also trigger asthma and other respiratory illnesses. In Chicago, 16% of families have a child with asthma. In 2022, Chicago residents visited the emergency room as a result of asthma more than 12,000 times – with 92% of these visits made by Black and Brown Chicagoans.

POOR MAINTENANCE

Poor maintenance of rental units leads to fire hazards, pest infestations, and chronic health problems. Between 2014 and 2019, 140 fires killed 62 Chicagoans. Nearly half of those fires involved buildings without a working smoke detector. An investigation found more than two dozen cases in which safety conditions played a role in the fires. Records showed the buildings had not been inspected for 5 or more years.

LEAD PAINT AND OTHER CONTAMINANTS

Over 77% of Chicago’s housing stock was built before the federal ban on lead-based paint in 1978. Most units in these buildings likely contain lead based paint. For children under the age of 6, lead poisoning can cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system. In In many communities of color, the childhood lead poisoning rates are 2-3 times higher than the citywide rate.

Children are particularly at risk of harm from lead poisoning, asthma triggers, fire or carbon monoxide poisoning.

The photo to the left of this paragraph is that of the window in the Bolin family home that had peeling paint containing lead.

No amount of lead exposure is considered safe for children under the age of six, but the Bolins’ home contained 58 times the allowable limit.

Read more about the Bolins family and how this nearly invisible hazard impacted their lives.

Get Involved

GET INVOLVED, GET INFORMED

Take action today! Tell your alder to support the Chicago Healthy Home Ordinance!

Sign this petition to show your support.
Call or email your alder and ask them to support proactive rental inspections. (Find your alder here.)
Spread the word! Share this petition with neighbors, family, and friends.