Dear Supporter of the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance:
The Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance (NBOA)—an umbrella organization of eight
individual neighborhood building owner organizations and unaffiliated building owners—
advocates on behalf Chicagoland’s small and medium–sized housing providers.
We engage in a dual approach:
- Public Relations – Engaging the media to change public perception of neighborhood
housing providers - Political advocacy – Engaging elected officials to fight the onslaught of unfavorable and counterproductive legislation and public policy aimed at neighborhood housing
providers
Since 2004, the NBOA has taken the lead in advocating for owners of multifamily buildings in Chicago-area neighborhoods, addressing issues such as combatting burdensome Chicago building code restrictions on porches, fighting for changes to Chicago’s Residential Landlord & Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) to make it less onerous for building owners, and negotiating directly with judicial leaders in our court system and the Cook County Sheriff on eviction procedures.
In the past two years, NBOA has redoubled its efforts to address the onslaught of new challenges to the industry, including the following:
- Rent Control: Successfully opposed legislation that would have overturned the
statewide ban on rent control, including providing testimony at key committee hearings; - Tax Assessments: Advocated on behalf of building owners with the Cook County
Assessor and Cook County Board of Review commissioners on issues pertaining to
reassessments in Cook County and opposing effort to impose on property owners
burdensome financial data; - Just Housing Ordinance: Opposed Cook County’s Just Housing Ordinance, which restricts housing providers’ ability to consider a potential tenant’s criminal background when considering whether to rent him or her an apartment;
- Relocation Assistance: Successfully opposed the City of Chicago’s efforts to require housing providers to provide relocation assistance to tenants whose leases are not renewed under certain circumstances;
- Notice Requirements: Opposed the City of Chicago’s efforts to upend long-established notice requirements on lease renewals and rent increases;
- Eviction Moratorium: Successfully lobbied the Governor’s office to modify the State ban on evictions to allow evictions to be filed against tenants who are not directly affected by COVID-19;
- Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance: Mounting an aggressive campaign to oppose a Cook County Board attempt to expand the City of Chicago’s oppressive Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance into suburban Cook County.
The worldwide pandemic and the resulting economic crisis has made our multifamily housing industry more fragile than ever before and yet State, County and City officials are using this time to push even more aggressive laws that will break our industry and upend the stability of our local housing stock.
We need to fight like never before and we can only do it with YOUR support.
Financial support from local housing providers, and the legal and real estate professionals who work with our industry, is more important than ever before. Our experienced legislative advocates and media professionals are making a huge difference for us, and we need their continued services at this critical time.
Please give generously to NBOA today—and join us as we continue to battle on behalf of small and mid-sized neighborhood housing providers.
Sincerely,
Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance
Michael Glasser, President
The NBOA consists of the following nine organizations:
- Edgewater Uptown Builders Association (EUBA)
- Greater Austin Development Association (GADA)
- Lakeview Developers Association (LDA)
- Latino Real Estate Investors Council (LREIC)
- Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago (LPBC)
- Northwest Side Builders Coalition (NSBC)
- Rogers Park Builders Group (RPBG)
- South Side Community Investment Association (SSCIA)
- Southside Builders Association (SBA)