Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is promoting the Protecting Renters Ordinance (PRO) as a path to affordability. But PRO does not make housing more affordable for renters; it actually does the opposite. Even with the amendments recently announced, PRO remains a rent-increase ordinance that will raise costs for tenants across Chicago.
The mayor has already conceded his “just cause” eviction policy, omitting it from an updated version of his PRO ordinance this week. It’s a welcome amendment, considering that City Council members flagged the policy from the start as problematic. A study by economists Daniel Shoag and Issi Romem that looks at 20 years of data found that “just cause” policies are responsible for rent increases of around 6%
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, a cost Chicagoans should not be forced to absorb. The majority of our residents are renters. Why would we want to raise the cost of living for the majority of our constituents?The Mayor’s PRO ordinance also proposes creating a new department with staffing to carry out work already being done by the Department of Housing and the Department of Buildings. Instead of adding red tape and increasing government bloat, let’s further refine and streamline the work already being done in those respective departments. With the city facing an $882 million deficit going into 2027, adding a new office to carry out services that are already accounted for is unwise and fiscally irresponsible.
As a city, we cannot claim to champion affordability while advancing policies that make housing more expensive to operate, and the proposed amendments to PRO do not change this fundamental reality. The ordinance still adds new mandates, new legal exposure and new layers of bureaucracy that increase operating costs. When operating costs rise, rents rise — it is basic economics, and renters feel it first.
Just last month, a report came out that showed the state of Illinois was second to last in building permits issued for new housing construction. The only state ranked lower than ours? Alaska. The challenges we see in our city parallel what is seen in the state: too much red tape, bureaucracy and unpredictability. Chicago is the economic engine of Illinois; the pulse of our production flows throughout the rest of the region. Municipal government should be leading the way in pivoting policy to better streamline construction, growth and development — leading to increased supply that meets demand and lowers cost. To say we need to reverse course is an understatement, but we have an opportunity now to ensure that the challenges faced are not worsened.
I’ve spent years working on economic development and housing issues in Chicago. I have backed zoning reforms, pushed for smarter permitting and encouraged investment in my own ward and across the city. But we cannot say we’re “pro-housing” if our policies welcome new construction while villainizing the people who actually run and maintain the buildings once they’re built. That’s not a strategy; it’s a contradiction.
The rules for building housing and the rules for operating housing are not separate silos. They are one system. You cannot streamline the front end and then make the back end unworkable. If you make it harder to operate housing, you will end up with less housing, which makes rents rise. As we have seen on a federal level, where the administration claimed other countries and businesses would pay the cost of increased tariffs, the reality is everyday consumers had to foot the bill. Any unfunded mandate placed on housing providers will ultimately get passed on to the renter, which is the opposite of what we should be trying to do in our city.
Chicago housing policies should take a note from cities such as Austin, Texas; Phoenix; Charlotte, N.C.; Houston; Las Vegas; and Atlanta, where increased production has helped ease pressure on rents and given renters more choices. In many of those cities, housing providers are offering concessions and incentives because supply has caught up to demand. That is what real affordability looks like, with more options, more homes and more competition.
If Chicago wants affordability, it needs more housing, not more hurdles. If we’re serious about adding homes, we have to stop pretending that development and operations can be separated. They rise together, or they fall together. And when they fall, it’s renters who pay the price.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas represents the 36th Ward and is chairman of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards.