-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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The primary cause of high rents is Fed monetary policy that forces investors to seek yield anywhere they can find it. Which often results in corporate entities trading apartment buildings between themselves. This increases valuations as low rates reflect high prices. It’s not just a Chicago thing. And worse, Rents are about to go even higher too. Many landlords buy properties with short term mortgages that must be refinanced. Rates have just gone much, much higher and landlord’s interest charges are about to go up significantly. These increases will be passed onto the tenants. The secondary cause of high rents… Read more »
Very good summary of the problems landlords face. Thank you.
It is a nightmarish scenario.
Housing providers are treated poorly in Chicago. Eviction for criminal tenants is a slow, expensive process. Because of increased crime, buildings must have increased security. Property management is a dangerous occupation. Many property managers have enrolled in self-defense classes. Many small landlords who offered affordable housing–owners of 2-flats or duplexes–got out after the eviction moratorium that took away property rights and the incentive to own rental property. My parents owned and lived in a Chicago 2-flat for 10 years before they bought a single-family home. But that was a different era–too dangerous to do that today. The big corporate entities… Read more »
“John Bartlett, executive director of the Metropolitan Tenants Organization, said more corporate entities are buying up rentals and driving the market prices up.”
Wait, didn’t the media say the claim that Blackrock and other investment firms were buying up affordable housing stock was a “right-wing conspiracy”? Doesn’t seem to be such a crazy theory after all.
Well poor American citizens should book some space in BJs big tents. Make your reservations now while it’s still warm out so you’ve got a place to stay in January.
Raise Taxes and the landlords have to raise rents. It is really very simple to figure out.
IL Democrat Rent Control Plan Will Make This Much Worse