DRAFT — CONFIDENTIAL / PREDECISIONAL·FOR INTERNAL DELIBERATION ONLY — DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
City of Chicago Mayor's Office · Protect Renters Ordinance · April 2026 · DRAFT — INTERNAL USE ONLY

Chicago's renters are paying more.
The data demands a response.

Over 624,000 renter households across 77 community areas. More than 142,000 cost-burdened. Rents at an all-time high. The Protect Renters Ordinance is the structured, enforceable response.

624k
Renter households in Chicago
54.5% of all occupied households
142k
Cost-burdened renter households
Paying 30%+ of income on rent
+35%
Rent increase since 2020
$1,720 to $2,328 — all-time high
5
Community areas with 35%+ cost burden
Archer Heights leads at 40.7%
01

Where renters are squeezed hardest

Toggle between cost burden and renter concentration. Hover any community area to see the full profile and its connection to PRO's protections.

Cost burden (% renter HHs paying 30%+ of income)
02

15 community areas with the highest concentration of housing stress

The PRO Priority Index combines cost burden (40%), renter share (30%), and 2-4 unit stock (30%). These 15 areas show the highest concentration of the pressures PRO addresses — but PRO applies citywide and protects all 624,000 renter households across all 77 community areas.

03

Eleven years of rent growth — and still climbing

Zillow Observed Rent Index, Chicago city. One pandemic dip that corrected in under a year — then a straight line to a record high.

+35%
Rent growth
2020 to March 2026
$1,720 to $2,328 per month. Year-over-year growth is running at 6.5%, twice the general inflation rate of 2.3%.
04

The Protect Renters Ordinance: five structural responses

PRO is not a single measure. It is five interdependent components that together address the enforcement gaps, information asymmetries, and displacement pressures documented in this data.

01
RLTO Modernization
Updates Chicago's Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance — last comprehensively revised in 1986 — to reflect today's rental market and enforcement realities.
02
Citywide Rental Registry
Establishes a mandatory registry of all rental units, enabling systematic enforcement and generating data the city currently lacks on landlord compliance.
03
Bureau of Rental Housing Services
Creates a dedicated bureau within the Department of Housing with investigative and enforcement authority, giving tenants a place to go and giving the city teeth to act on complaints.
04
Just Cause for Eviction
Restricts arbitrary no-fault evictions, ensuring landlords must document a legitimate reason before removing a tenant from their home.
05
Eviction Counsel Program
Funds legal representation for tenants in eviction proceedings — closing the representation gap between tenants (rarely represented) and landlords (almost always represented).