Report Shows Increasing Rent Burden, Displacement of Tenants due to Foreclosure (MTO)

Over half of Chicago’s 1.3 million renters are paying more than a third of their income for housing and facing other stresses, according to a new report from The Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO).  The report, entitled The State of Renters in the City of Chicago, was released at a public policy forum held at The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on Tuesday, September 15, 2009.
 
As the Obama administration works to craft a secure and stable housing policy in the face of the foreclosure and financial markets crises, the Metropolitan Tenants Organization’s report adds the renters’ perspective to the housing policy discussion and highlights the need for local and national policy change. Historically, federal housing policies have favored home ownership, but a number of policy experts believe public policies should equally encourage successful renting, especially if the alternative is marginal success in home ownership.
 
“For years renters have needed and wanted a new national housing policy that balances home ownership and rental housing,” said John Bartlett, Executive Director of MTO. “Absent livable, affordable and stable housing, individuals and families will continue to face conditions that make them vulnerable to financial stress, illness, absence from school and missed work.”
 
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