
Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance:
Proactive Rental Inspections
PROACTIVE RENTAL INSPECTIONS
The Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance (CHHO) is a citywide proactive rental housing inspection program that would:​
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Improve the health of Chicago families
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Create a citywide building registry for all rental homes
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Begin as a 5-year pilot phase in 4 wards
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Institute fair and regular inspections every 3 years
Chicago renters should not get sick or die because of preventable health hazards. Unlike other major cities, Chicago does not regularly inspect buildings for health or safety issues. Homes are only inspected when there is a complaint, and there is currently a huge backlog. Meanwhile, Chicago families continue to live in unsafe housing or are being forced to move out.
Major cities across the country are adopting proactive rental inspection programs to address issues such as absent, negligent owners. Programs require owners to register properties. Cyclical inspections occur to ensure compliance with existing building codes. The following cities have already implemented proactive inspection programs and we hope to see Chicago on this list soon!
Los Angeles, CA • Sacramento, CA • Boulder, CO • Cedar Falls, IA • Des Moines, IA • Iowa City, IA
Bloomington, IL • Mount Prospect, IL • Peoria, IL • Waukegan, IL • West Chicago, IL • Ann Arbor, MI
Grand Rapids, MI • Lansing, MI • Port Huron, MI • Minneapolis, MN • Easton, PA • Philadelphia, PA
Portsmouth, VA • Seattle, WA • La Crosse, WI • Milwaukee, WI
HEALTH IMPACTS OF HAZARDOUS HOUSING CONDITIONS
According to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, a little over half of all Chicagoans are renters. In 2019 renters made more than 30,000 complaints for occupied blight and other habitability issues, with most complaints coming from the South and West Sides. The National Center for Healthy Housing reports that compared to renters in other cities, Chicagoans face higher-than-average rates of hazardous housing conditions such as water leaks, HVAC and plumbing equipment breakdowns, sewage issues, and broken plaster or peeling paint problems. The lack of a rental property registration system exacerbates Chicago's housing crisis and puts families at risk. ​
EXCESS MOISTURE AND LEAKS

Environmental issues like dust mites, mold, and poor ventilation can cause allergic reactions in tenants. They can also trigger asthma and other respiratory illnesses. In Chicago, 16% of families have a child with asthma. In 2022, Chicago residents visited the emergency room as a result of asthma more than 12,000 times – with 92% of these visits made by Black and Brown Chicagoans.
POOR MAINTENANCE

Poor maintenance of rental units leads to various issues, including fire hazards, pest infestations, and chronic health problems. Between 2014 and 2019, 140 fires killed 62 Chicagoans. Nearly half of those fires involved buildings without a working smoke detector. An news investigation found more than two dozen cases in which safety conditions played a role in the fires and records showed the buildings had not been inspected for 5 or more years.
LEAD PAINT AND OTHER CONTAMINANTS

Over 77% of Chicago’s housing stock was built before the federal ban on lead-based paint in 1978. Most of the units in these buildings likely contain lead based paint. Especially for children under the age of 6, lead poisoning can cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system. In In many communities of color, the childhood lead poisoning rates are two to three times higher than the citywide rate.​

The Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance is needed to prevent residents from being exposed to harmful health conditions in their homes due to repair and maintenance issues. Children are particularly at risk of harm from lead poisoning, asthma triggers, fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. Read about the Bolins and their experience with lead in their home.
"No amount of lead exposure is considered safe for children under the age of six, but the Bolins’ home contained
*Photo: This is an image of a window in the Bolin home where a child was poisoned due to the peeling paint containing lead.
GET INVOLVED, GET INFORMED
HEALTHY HOMES IN THE NEWS
CHHO ENDORSERS
CHICAGO HEALTHY HOMES COALITION