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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Voters in Springfield have an advisory question on their ballots this election asking if the city should create a landlord registry and licensing program similar to other Illinois cities.
Because it is an advisory question, it will not directly trigger a new city ordinance. It will inform city leaders of the community’s opinion.
Hewitt Douglass, secretary of the Lincoln Tower Tenant Organization, has been trying for more than five years to find out who owns the building where he lives.
“We tenants are just like everyone else who rents property,” said Douglass. “We need to know who owns this property so that they can respond to our concerns and the things that are important to us.”
Douglass said the building has no cleaning staff, old elevators and about two dozen parking spaces for more than 100 units. He said tenants have taken their concerns to the city, the city council and the city attorney.
Stories like Douglass’ inspired Faith Coalition for the Common Good to get the landlord registry on the ballot. Tyshianna Bankhead, the group’s executive director, said many of the tenants she’s talked to have experienced a lot of issues with their landlords.
“We hear that mold is an issue, lead is an issue…” said Bankhead. “A lot of the renters experience not having heat, and not having air conditioning, the water is not working or leaks that has caused major damage to their property as well as the landlord’s property.”
Bankhead said she has also talked to a lot of residents who have come home to notes from the city saying the property is going to be condemned.
The other major issue she has heard from tenants is not being able to track down the landlord or contact them. Several apartment complexes in the area told her they have had a new property manager each year, and some home renters have been told they were late paying rent because the address they were supposed to send it to changed.
“Right now, we have a reactive approach where the tenant can report any issues, and then it takes about three reports within a year for them to go through any type of litigation,” said Bankhead. “And so it’s a very long process, and it’s a very reactive process.”
Signs have appeared in the city saying a registry would raise taxes. WAND News could not determine who made them.
The group Illinois Realtors opposes the registry. The group declined an interview request and instead provided a statement:
Bankhead says there is no proof the registry would raise taxes and that the city already uses taxpayer dollars to attempt to track down bad landlords.
FULL DISCLOSURE: CapitolCityNow Editor-in-Chief Will Stevenson is a resident of Lincoln Tower Apartments. The elevators were recently renovated and, for the most part, now work as they should.