CITY HALL — The City Council’s housing committee will consider an ordinance Wednesday aimed at strengthening renter protections without a key provision requiring landlords pay tenants thousands of dollars in relocate assistance if they are forced to move out in some circumstances.
Johnson introduced the Protecting Renters Ordinance in June, aimed at shielding renters from eviction and predatory landlord practices. The mayor billed it as the first major update to the city’s housing laws since Mayor Harold Washington’s administration in the mid-1980s.
The original version of the Protecting Renters Ordinance, also known as PRO, banned move-in fees; created a citywide rental registry; established a tenant bill of rights; and a created a new Bureau of Rental Housing Services within the Department of Housing. It also called for establishing “just cause” requirements if landlords chose not to renew a lease and required they pay relocation assistance to renters who lost their housing through no fault of their own…