CAFHA's approach to public policy is driven by the experiences of those directly impacted by unjust housing policies and practices.

POLICY ADVOCACY AND GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING

CAFHA's unique network of community leaders, housing advocates, legal experts, and government officials sets our policy work apart. Our members and community partners meet on a regular basis to discuss emerging issues and strategies to drive real change and long-term solutions for our affordable housing and community development challenges.

Just Cause for Evictions

There are an average of 23,466 eviction filings each year in Chicago, and estimated 25% of those are due to no fault of the renter. These evictions are often the result of retaliation, discrimination, or gentrification. We know that Black women in particular bear the brunt of this unjust system of displacement and face lifelong consequences. Moreover, for individuals who face discriminatory housing barriers, notably voucher holders and individuals with arrest and conviction records, even a mere threat of eviction has the potential to manifest uncertainty and fear that can be destabilizing. Just Cause for Eviction would end no-fault evictions in Chicago.

Just Cause for Evictions Website

Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance (CHHO)

Unlike other cities across the country, Chicago conducts home health inspections upon receiving a complaint, often after injury or illness, has already occurred. The Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance (CHHO) seeks to create a system for proactive inspections and ensure that rental housing receives regular health inspections whether or not a complaint has been made. This ordinance will make Chicago’s housing safer by identifying home-based health issues before they become serious bring greater parity between subsidized and non-subsidized renters by eliminating a common barrier to the acceptance of housing vouchers.

Chicago Healthy Homes Ordinance Website

Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership Program

Denied the benefits that stemmed from large homeownership subsidies and credit expansions available to past generations of white families, Black families today are disproportionately renters. Many use or are in need of subsidies, like the federal Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. Renting with HCVs adds a layer of stigma to an already precarious market. Local public housing authorities (PHAs) are able to implement homeownership programs that shift participants from a rental voucher that pays a portion of monthly market rent to one that covers either the down payment of a home, or a portion of its monthly mortgage. HCV Homeownership programs can change the trajectory of thousands of families.

Read our latest research on PHA/HCV Homeownership Programs and their Potential

HCV Homeowner Mentorship Program and HCV Homeowner's Club

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Housing Choice Voucher Leaderboard

The Housing Choice Voucher Leader Board advocates for the fair housing rights of Chicago voucher holders. CAFHA's dedicated housing organizer brings voucher holders from across Chicago together to workshop, from multiple angles, potential solutions for increased program accessibility and success. The leaderboard was also involved in advocating for the passage of the statewide source of income protections (HB 2775) and after intense advocacy efforts, Governor JB Pritzker signed the house bill into law (May 24, 2022). The law became effective on January 1, 2023, making Illinois the 20th state in the nation to offer source of income protections.

Source of Income Outreach and Education

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Reentry Housing Advocacy & Just Housing Amendment Education

People of color are disproportionately impacted by incarceration due to widespread racial disparities at every level of the justice system. Arrest and conviction record background checks are often used as a proxy for discrimination leaving individuals with records and their families at an amplified risk of homelessness. People experiencing homelessness have an increased risk of incarceration. This cycle of instability is one that only equitable housing can break. CAFHA is proud to partner with Illinois Access to Justice to host an annual housing justice fellowship that provides returning residents with an opportunity to support our team in outreach and education efforts that increase awareness about the Cook County Just Housing Amendment and other helpful resources. In doing so, they receive a monthly stipend for program participation and training.

Cook County Commission on Human Rights Just Housing Amendment FAQs for Applicants

Community Navigators Program and The Illinois Reentry Council: Housing Working Group

Just Housing Initiative

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans has an arrest record before age 25, which means that more people have an arrest record than a four-year college degree. In Cook County alone, there are more than 1 million residents with an arrest or conviction. 11,000 people return to Cook County annually from Illinois prisons and are nearly 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public. In 2015, CAFHA launched a coalition of over 100 organizations and returning citizens to advocate for the passage of the Just Housing Amendment Initiative in Cook County. Their commitment and dedication resulted in the 2019 passage of the Amendment. Since the law passed, CAFHA has continued working with directly impacted leaders and organizational partners to advance policies that remove systemic housing barriers for people with arrest and conviction records.

Just Housing Initiative Website

Cook County Residential Tenant & Landlord Ordinance

CAFHA co-led efforts to pass the Cook County Residential Tenant & Landlord Ordinance (CCRTLO), ensuring basic protections for 245,000+ Cook County renter households - a basic right that has been historically plagued with well-documented racial disparities. Under the ordinance suburban Cook County landlords must provide tenants with additional transparency on move-in fees, utilities charges, security deposit locations, who is allowed to enter a unit. and more. Additionally, all tenants must be provided a Summary of the RTLO so they know their rights before a lease is signed. Suburban Cook County renters will also have new protections against unmade repairs or uninhabitable homes, excessive late rent fees, short renewal periods, illegal lockouts, and leases that force renters to admit guilt to any issue without due process.

Illinois Statewide Source of Income Protections

In Illinois, over half of Illinois (2.7 million) households earn some sort of non-wage income such as disability benefits, veteran benefits, subsidies, alimony, child support and emergency forms of assistance, including COVID relief. However, many are turned away from available housing or threatened with eviction when attempting to pay their rent with these resources because landlords or property companies simply refuse to accept these non-wage based forms of payment. This is known as Source of Income Discrimination in housing. As a member of the Illinois Coalition for Fair Housing, CAFHA helped ensure the passage of the statewide source of income protections (HB 2775) and after intense advocacy efforts, Governor JB Pritzker signed the house bill into law (May 24, 2022). The law became effective on January 1, 2023, making Illinois the 20th state in the nation to offer source of income protections.

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Amendments to the Illinois Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act

The Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act (AHPAA) is an Illinois state law aimed at creating more affordable housing–for rent or for sale. Illinois faces a severe shortage of housing targeted towards low-income and working-class families, with one estimate suggesting the Chicago region needs more than 227,000 additional units of affordable housing to meet the needs of renters alone. CAFHA participated in a coalition of organizations to advocate for amendments to the Illinois AHPAA through Senate Bill 1476, which will strengthen requirements on municipalities to meet affordability thresholds.

Impact for Equity 2024 AHPAA Issue Brief
Housing Action Illinois AHPAA Resource Guide and Toolkit
Illinois Housing Development Authority's AHPAA 2023 Non-Exempt Local Government Handbook

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly!”

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.