On July 24, the federal moratorium on evictions expired. It had protected HUD-subsidized Project Based Section 8 buildings, home to 5 million households nationally and over 50,000 in Chicago.
In this moment, low-income renters will be looking for help, and looking for a political home that speaks to the injustice of their experience.
In Chicago, we believe that over 1/3 of HUD and Section 8 evictions will be illegal because property managers have not reduced rents despite decreased renter income due to COVID. Tenants can usually resolve issues by presenting HUD with clear documentation via email or letter, but we’ve learned tenants rarely have the time or bureaucratic experience to document a complaint. A caseworker or organizer can do it, but no individual or group has the capacity to assist thousands of tenants.
Our answer? We're designing a simple, accessible website to automate this process, making it easy for tenants to document illegal evictions and other landlord violations.
Not only will these prevent illegal evictions, but the tool will be used by organizers to build lists of prospective members and activists as part of a multi-year base-building project to organize powerful tenant unions across Chicago.
Your donation to the Tenant Education Network will show up as a donation to United Working Families, a 501c4 organization in Illinois. 100% of funds (minus processing fees) will be donated to the Tenant Education Network.