Eviction Filings In Chicago Appear To Be On The Decline

Credit: Paul John Higgins

        Mark Swartz, director of the    Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, which     provides free legal aid to tenants facing eviction, has kept his own ledger     of eviction filing numbers since 2000, and has also noted a decline in     Chicago filings in recent years. But he cautions against framing the drop     as an improvement.



            Swartz thinks there may be “fewer low-income residents left in Chicago to     evict,” and that the falling eviction filings confirm what he says he sees     in court every day: “Low-income, cost-burdened renters are being priced out     of the region.” Since 2000, the poorest areas of the city, on the south and     west sides, have lost roughly 250,000 residents, according to U.S. Census     Bureau data              recently analyzed by Crain’s.



            “It is more difficult than ever for renters to obtain good outcomes in     eviction court and for advocates to stabilize their clients’ housing,”     Swartz says.