CHICAGO TENANTS CAN’T PAY RENT

Get connected to a neighborhood organizer by filling out this sign up form[1].

If you have any questions or suggestions on this guide please click here.

Tenant Council Organizing Timeline

  1. Organize a Tenant Council in your building. This is the only way to gain more power against your landlord by making demands as a group. Use the Letter Templates to organize your neighbors into a tenant council.
  2. Decide your collective demands (i.e. rent forgiveness/reduction, lease extensions, free laundry, etc.) and send a letter to your landlord using one of the Letter Templates.
  3. Negotiate with your landlord as a tenant council
  4. Know your Rights! Read over the Legal FAQ to learn more about evictions, and how you can withhold rent strategically.

You cannot be evicted right now.

Illinois Executive Order (April 23):

Cook County:

If a landlord is trying to illegally evict you, they can be sued for two months’ rent and the City can fine them $200-500 per day.

If someone tries to remove you or your property from your home

  • Use your cell phone to safely record the person trying to evict you. Narrate what is happening to give context.
  • Ask to see I.D. and any Court Order the person claims to possess; take pictures of each.
  • Do not engage in physical violence; if they persist, lock the door.
  • Contact a tenant organization or legal organization for assistance

Chicago Tenant Network Eviction/Lockout Response Hotline: ‪(312) 869-9208

 

See Legal FAQs for more details

How to Organize a Tenant Network in your Building

You have the right to organize the tenants in your building without retaliation[3].

If you are covered under the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RLTO)[4]

If you are a RLTO tenant, follow the steps in this guide. You are likely a RLTO tenant if your landlord does not live in your building. If your building has 6 or fewer units and is landlord-occupied, then you may not have these protections.

If you are not covered under the RLTO[5] 

  1. Check your lease to see if it forbids door-to-door canvassing. If canvassing is forbidden: contact a tenant organization to get extra-legal assistance against eviction[6] and contact a lawyer or legal helpline for legal assistance against eviction.
  2. Consult additional resources:
  1. Read the Uptown People’s Law Center guide to organizing in non-CRLTO buildings.
  2. Reference the Legal Aid for non-RLTO Tenants outline from Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) for non-RLTO tenants. (Warning: there is a lot of info in here).
  3. Contact a lawyer or legal helpline for guidance.

Steps for organizing

Note: While organizing a tenant network in your building, remember that we must take precautions during this pandemic. Please read Safety Practices for Mutual Aid Food and Supply Distribution during the Coronavirus Pandemic and how to prevent coronavirus (CDC) 

  1. The first and most important step is to form a tenant network in your building.
  1. Use the letter templates to reach out to your neighbors and ask them if they need support[7].
  2. Begin with a one-on-one phone call and find out how Covid-19 has affected them. Offer support, and ask if they’re willing to form a tenant group.
  3. If yes, create a group communication method (group text, Signal, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, whatever!). At this point, you are not asking them to withhold rent, yet. You must first figure out what your collective demands are.
  4. You can use a spreadsheet like this sample one to keep track of your neighbors’ responses to organizing conversations
  5. Once you have a decent number of people involved, you can create an organizing committee so that you can delegate tasks and share the work. Check your spreadsheet to gauge who is committed to take on these roles.

  1. Research your building using ATU’s Research Guide

  1. Research your landlord using our Landlord Research guide

  1. Draft a letter to your landlord with your collective demands and have everyone sign the letter (See Letter Templates)

  1. Send demands letter to landlord (See Letter Templates)
  1. Designate a representative to be responsible for communication between the council and the landlord

  1. So now what? How your landlords can respond…
  1. If a landlord tries to contact tenants who are organizing individually, tenants should tell the tenant network first before taking any action on their own. The tenants’ power is in solidarity, and your landlord knows this. Your landlord will attempt to divide you up.

The key to a successful rent strike is solidarity

It is on us to reach out to our roommates and neighbors, and get them on board so that it becomes a building-wide threat to our respective landlords.

Here’s a summary of Philadelphia Tenant Union’s Covid-19 Organizing Guide on how a rent strike is the maximum tactic on the table:

  • If you have no income to pay rent withholding rent will not act as leverage. Whether they suspend rent or not, the situation is the same for the landlord (no profits).
  • The key to getting your demands is to build collective financial pressure as leverage. Once you have this leverage, you are making them address your demands because it affects their bottom line.
  • You are basically asking your landlord: “You either forgive some of the rent (for folks who have been economically impacted by Covid-19), or you don’t get any of our rent (even from those who have the means to pay)”
  • A rent strike is a demonstration of collective power. It means you must organize a tenants council and collectively withhold rent even if some of you have the means to pay.
  • Think about what your demands are, and what tactics can best get you there[8].

REMEMBER: No matter if your objective is to reach an agreement before or during court, you can’t stop organizing. Organizing starts by talking to your neighbors. Our power is in numbers!

What if your neighbors respond, but don’t feel up to withholding rent?

Forming a tenant council will be beneficial even if you don’t feel confident you and your neighbors can act collectively around paying or not paying rent. There are other issues to organize around, and even small, coordinated actions show your landlord that you’re organized and help to build trust among your neighbors. A tenant network will create the possibility for bigger commitments down the road.

Here are some examples:

  • Extend tenants’ leases or establish a month-to-month agreement once the current lease ends.
  • Written agreement that the landlord will not file evictions against anyone who can’t pay because of loss of income.
  • Agree to disclose the cost of monthly mortgage payments and property taxes, and let tenants split the cost instead of making full rent payments.
  • Install doorbells to make deliveries easier.
  • Make laundry free for the remainder of the crisis.

What if none of your neighbors reach out?

If no one else in your building wants to support you or join a tenant network, then reach out to a local tenant organization for assistance. They can support you with other methods to prevent eviction. You can also contact a lawyer or legal helpline for legal assistance against eviction.

Another tactic is to research your landlord to see if they own any other buildings. Even if the tenants in your building aren’t up for joining a tenant group, having the support of the other building will build tenant power[9].

Tenant sign-up forms and contact information by building

Mac Properties: Mac Tenants United for Rent

Pangea: http://bit.ly/ptusignup

TLC: http://bit.ly/tlctusignup

Hyde Park Properties: http://bit.ly/hpptusignup

ICM Properties: ICM Tenants Can’t Pay Their Rent

        Bertsch Properties: Contact ATU (872) 216-5288

If your landlord owns multiple properties, it’s ideal to create a tenant network that covers most of them, but a tenant network that covers the majority of one building is still a viable campaign. See our Landlord Research guide.

Another option is geographic proximity based organizing. If you can’t convince or contact your co-tenants, see if your neighbors in nearby buildings are interested. Even though you might have different landlords, a whole block going on rent strike can exert real power. It shows your landlord (and those in office) that the public is watching them. However, this has some risks:

  • Legal protections may not exist (see Legal FAQs)
  • If you can only get your own household in on it, it might not be the best scenario to move forward. You won’t have the leverage of the rest of the building.

Letter Templates

Important Safety Reminders

Letter To Neighbors

Letter/Flyer Templates

Once you form a tenant council, collectively agree upon your demands and write a solidarity pledge

Tenant Council Demand Letter/Solidarity Letter to Landlord

Here is our landlord template.[10] To use it, copy and paste into a new document, and adapt to your tenant council’s needs.

Key things to put in the letter:

  1. There is now an established tenants council[11]
  2. All issues relevant to COVID will take place through the tenant council, as a collective, rather than as individuals.
  3. Certain tenants cannot pay rent during the COVID-19 crisis
  4. Tenants who cannot pay are asking for rent suspension/forgiveness due to COVID-19 crisis
  5. If the landlord retaliates, the tenants council is prepared to defend their colleagues (“The maximum tactic on the table is a rent strike, though other actions may be taken.”)

Legal FAQ

Action Items

Call Governor J.B. Pritzker

Sign Petition to Open up Public Housing for the Houseless

Sign Rent Freeze Petition

We must remember that the housing crisis that is resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic greatly impacts communities beyond renters. We can build solidarity with organizations and other strikers with overlapping demands, by connecting with neighbors, publicizing through social media, and keeping an eye out for community demands. Here is a working list of demands that needs to be amplified: Demands Around Covid-19 (some specific to Chicago, some apply nationally)

Further Resources

Chicago Rental Assistance Resources

ATU’s Training Files

Chicago Rent Freeze Petition

Chicago Rent Freeze: Discussion and Resources, A Facebook Group to discuss the organizing process with other Chicago tenants

NYC Rent Strike 2020 and Forever Google Doc

LA Tenants Union FOODNOTRENT

Philadelphia Tenant Union’s Covid-19 Organizing Guide

Autonomous Tenants Union Covid-19 Tenant Organizing Toolkit

Autonomous Tenants Union Tenants Rights Training Notes

The Tenants Will Win: TANC Pandemic Organizing Guide

[1] The information gathered from the above form will go to a private spreadsheet (only accessible by lead organizers of each neighborhood and a trusted data organizer) to keep track of how many buildings/tenants are organizing. We will not use the information taken from this google form for any other purpose than to keep track of stats, and to connect you to neighborhood point people.

[2] “unless a tenant poses a direct threat to the health and safety of other tenants, an immediate and severe risk to property, or a violation of any applicable building code, health ordinance, or similar regulation.” (IL Exec. Order April 23, 2020)

[3] UPLC Guide to Retaliation

UPLC Guide to Rent Strike

[4] Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance

[5] The editors of this document aren't covered under RLTO either! :-) So don’t worry, we can navigate this together.

[6] Other tactics in preventing evictions include… phone zaps, media blasts, eviction blockades, etc.

[7] Since it’s illegal to put unauthorized mail into mailboxes, slip the letter under their door.

[8] Not everyone is going to be on board or equally willing. As the initiator, it’s your job to suggest the radical ideas, make the initial contact, and bring enthusiasm – not to run the show, especially for some desired outcome.

[9] And once more people join, others who were hesitant may very well change their minds.

[10] We pulled from: Philadelphia Tenant Union Sample Demand Letter to Landlord; ATU: (leverage included) COVID Rent suspension/delay letter template; Bay Area TANC letter to landlord

[11] This automatically gives you some legal protection against retaliation by forming a tenants council. That is, assuming you are an RLTO tenant. You are likely an RLTO tenant if your landlord does not live in your building. If your building has 6 or fewer units and is landlord-occupied, then you need to check your lease to see if it bans the formation of a tenant organization in your building. Here is a simpler guide by the UPLC to navigate non-RLTO protections.