Chicago has no way of tracking landlords, nor does it require rental units to be inspected. That was the case in Colorado’s largest city, until officials decided to do something about it.
Building Inspections
Posted inSolutions
Chicago Doesn’t Keep Track of Landlords. Renters Are Demanding Change.
Chicago’s building safety enforcement lags behind many peer cities. Boulder offers a model that Chicago could follow.
Unsafe & Unsound: How Can Chicago Ensure All Its Apartments Are Safe?
Join Illinois Answers Project Reporter Alex Nitkin and Metropolitan Tenants Organization Organizer Arieh Venick for a conversation about Chicago’s building safety record, what other cities are doing to fix unsafe […]
Posted inInvestigations
Repeat Violators Leave Families Out in the Cold
Hundreds of buildings across Chicago have been cited repeatedly for violating heat-requirement ordinances, which are in effect from November through May.
Posted inInvestigations
Smoke Detectors Save Lives, But Chicago Slow to Toughen Rules
A joint investigation with Illinois Answers and the Chicago Tribune found that smoke alarms were absent, defective or missing batteries in 57 out of 87 fatal residential fires in Chicago from 2020 through 2022.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Fires Continue to Kill People in Unsafe Buildings as Chicago Ignores Problems with its Inspection System
As other cities across the country adopt innovative programs to fix problem buildings, Chicago lags behind
