Housing
More than 38,000 eviction and foreclosure cases were filed in Cook County in 2022. We report on the intersection of housing and the courts and how the system impacts renters, homeowners, and the unhoused.
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The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled unconstitutional a decades-old practice of taking every cent of people’s home equity over unpaid property taxes. Experts say Illinois lags behind the nation by continuing the racist policy mostly impacting Black communities.
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A year-long Injustice Watch investigation found tenants are regularly facing eviction and informal displacement at buildings with histories of serious safety violations, while the court system puts property rights above the rights of the people who live there.
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Cook County allows tax foreclosures by municipalities. Poor oversight led to misuse by local officials.
Officials were able to use the county’s revitalization program for personal and political gain, neglected seized properties, and stripped homeowners of equity they had built up in their properties.
Chicago’s invisible property owners
Who’s your landlord? For many Chicago renters, their landlord is a faceless entity called an LLC, a limited liability company. That anonymity makes it tough to hold problem landlords accountable.
Know your building. Know your landlord.
Learn how to research building code violations and property ownership in Chicago using public records.
Pilsen tenants followed the law in withholding rent. They were forced to move out anyway.
The retaliation lawsuit the three renters filed against their former landlord, Pilsen Rentals LLC, shows the limits of tenant protections in Chicago.
Property-tax foreclosure reform gets put off by Illinois legislators
Lawmakers said they again will consider the issue later this year. Meanwhile, Cook County will postpone its 2025 tax sale because of concerns over homeowners who fall behind on property taxes losing their homes and equity.