Dear Neighborhood Housing Industry Colleagues and Friends;
Despite the best efforts of the NBOA and its industry partners, Chicago’s City Council last week enacted the Jackson Park Housing Pilot Program Ordinance. A key component of this ordinance is a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (Right of First Refusal) program for the City’s Jackson Park and South Shore neighborhoods. It is similar to the Tenant Right of First Refusal “pilot program,” which the Council enacted for several Northwest Side neighborhoods last year.
Though the Jackson Park pilot program passed over our objections, the NBOA and its industry partners successfully convinced the aldermen to hold hearings on the impact of these Right of First Refusal programs on homeowners, housing providers, and tenants. These hearings will provide an opportunity to highlight the many flaws in the ordinances, hopefully leading to necessary reforms or their outright repeal. We expect that the first hearing will occur in mid to late October.
Groups that will have equal time to present at these hearings include:
Organizations representing title companies.
Organizations representing real estate agents and professionals.
Organizations representing property owners and housing providers.
Organizations representing tenant right groups and tenant unions; and
Organizations representing buyers and sellers of real estate impacted by these types of tenant right of first refusal pilot programs.
We are specifically seeking testimony from property owners who have been impacted by these Right of First Refusal ordinances. If you have experienced a canceled transaction or a loss of equity due to these programs, we encourage you to come forward. We are looking for evidence to demonstrate that the tenant right of first refusal programs are failed policies that require amendment or repeal. Click HERE to share your story – we will keep your identify and information confidential until and unless we receive your approval to use it. (Alternatively, you can send us your story via EMAIL.)
When City policymakers do not engage with housing providers, it leads to flawed housing policy. Conversely, involving housing providers in their deliberations can result in better housing policy for our communities.
We look forward to a productive dialogue with all parties involved and to fostering a healthier environment for neighborhood housing.
Leave a Reply