Among the thousands, perhaps millions, of Zoom video-chat meetings that transpired across the locked-down country on March 26, one was convened for Chicago landlords. Some 150 participants tuned in throughout the session, including corporate property managers, mom-and-pop operators, and even former 49th Ward alderman Joe Moore. Two local groups representing landlords, the South Side Community Investors Association and the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance, called the meeting for south-side landlords in particular to discuss the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic. In a recording of the meeting obtained by the Reader, investors, property managers, and representatives from groups such as the Chicago Association of Realtors, Community Investment Corporation, and Chicagoland Apartment Association shared their concerns and strategies to deal with rent losses.
The landlords also discussed how to communicate with tenants in an empathetic manner, even as they faced potential rent losses. “Now it’s even more critical to make sure the tenants don’t feel that you’re just stepping on them,” Feldman said. “I can tell you we’re doing wellness calls and just going around and calling a batch of tenants every day to make sure everybody’s OK.”
The tone of landlords’ messages, as well as the assumption that tenants can easily get other jobs or have relatives whom they can ask for help, has riled up many renters around the city.
There have been reports of smaller landlords offering rent breaks to their tenants and it’s not clear how many rent strikes are being attempted around Chicago. It will take a few days before court records about new eviction filings become available. Some of the landlords in the March 26 Zoom meeting were already anticipating organizing efforts like Rome and Jazeera’s.
