According to HousingWire, Chicago's City Council is currently deciding between two very different approaches to updating the city's rental rules, which haven't been substantially rewritten in about four decades. Mayor Brandon Johnson's proposal, called the Protecting Renters Ordinance or PRO, focuses on expanding tenant protections and creating new enforcement mechanisms. The competing plan, known as FAIR, takes a different approach by emphasizing ways to reduce costs for landlords and streamline the development process. Both proposals have already advanced through their respective city council committees, setting the stage for a significant debate about how to balance renter safeguards with housing production.
Johnson's PRO plan would establish a registry of rental property owners, create a formal bill of rights for tenants, and prohibit certain move-in and move-out fees. The city would create a new Bureau of Rental Housing Services to investigate complaints, help tenants facing eviction, and resolve disputes before they go to court. According to HousingWire, the city estimates needing 28 employees to run this bureau. The proposal would fund these efforts through annual registration fees charged to property owners, with fees varying based on building size. Owner-occupied buildings with fewer than six units would be exempt from paying the registration fees, though they would still have to follow the new tenant protections.
The mayor did scale back some of his earlier proposals to try to gain more support. According to HousingWire, Johnson removed requirements that landlords show just cause before declining to renew a lease, and he eliminated provisions around relocation payments and rent-increase protections. Despite these concessions, the Illinois Realtors association is actively campaigning against PRO. Their chief executive told HousingWire that stacking all these requirements into one ordinance would discourage builders and landlords from working in Chicago, ultimately driving up housing costs rather than solving affordability problems.
The alternative FAIR proposal also creates an ownership registry and enforcement capabilities, but it would house these functions in the Department of Buildings instead of creating a new Housing bureau. According to HousingWire, this plan carries no registration fees, allows landlords to collect disclosed move-in fees, and exempts buildings with up to 12 units from some requirements. FAIR supporters argue that the better path to affordability is reducing development costs and cutting red tape, not adding more regulation. The proposal would specifically direct the buildings commissioner to speed up permits and reduce obstacles for new construction projects.
What I am seeing locally here in the Bay Area is that we're watching these same battles play out across the country, and Chicago's moment really highlights something we've been grappling with for years. The tension between protecting tenants and keeping new housing development alive is real, and there's genuine disagreement about which approach actually works. In Fremont and across the East Bay, we need to think carefully about how we regulate rental markets without accidentally making it harder for builders to add the supply that could eventually help with our affordability crisis.
