Chicago City Council OKs Ordinance Requiring Foreclosing Banksters To Offer Existing Renters In Tenant-Occupied Homes Either Rent-Controlled Lease Or $10,600 Relocation Payment As Protection From Unwanted Boot

In Chicago, Illinois, WBEZ Radio 91.5 FM reports:

• The Chicago City Council on Wednesday afternoon approved protections for renters whose units have entered foreclosure. The ordinance passed in a 45-4 vote after more than a year of organizing by tenant advocates.
  
  The measure, dubbed Keep Chicago Renting, will require the foreclosing bank to provide the tenants a rent-controlled lease until selling the property or pay them a “relocation assistance” fee of $10,600 per unit. The goal is to keep renters in their homes and keep the buildings from standing vacant and breeding crime.

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• An earlier version of the proposal, introduced by Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) last July, would have prohibited post-foreclosure evictions outright except under narrow circumstances such as the tenants’ failure to pay rent.
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration worried that version might not withstand legal challenges. Instead of the eviction ban, the city pushed for requiring the banks to pay the relocation fee. Negotiations between City Hall and tenant advocates dragged on for months. The sides did not finalize the amount of the fee until last week.

For more, see City Council enacts ‘Keep Chicago Renting’ ordinance.