[LouisVanDerWright]

Until rents rise above $700-800/mo for a 2 BR apartment two blocks from the L, no we cannot all acknowledge Chicago has an affordability problem. And no, it's not particularly violent there, there's been a grand total of six homicides in Little Village so far this year which is only one more than Logan Square and nowhere near some of the "shooting gallery" hoods we do have.

The notion that Chicago lacks affordable problem is a figment of the imagination of bleeding hearts who have never actually left the N or NW side. It doesn't reflect the reality on the ground of the other 75% of the city period.

Again, you can claim such things all you want, but I have been offering $800 transit adjacent apartments for years on here and have yet to get even one request from any of you which tells me you are all satisfied with your own housing situation and don't actually know anyone who is having issues finding a place they can afford.

Meanwhile I continue to deal with real people who actually can't afford expensive rent like the old lady I just helped find and move into a section 8 building at Barry and Sheridan where she will now be paying $183/mo after subsidy for a nice ass 1 BD apartment three blocks from the lake in Lakeview.

Again, you can perpetuate this myth all you want, but it's a total load of bullshit if you actually deal with this issue on a day to day basis. I have never once had a tenant that I've asked to move have any difficulty finding a new similarly priced apartment somewhere of equal or better quality to where they are at now. In fact, about 90% of the time I find that tenants I am "displacing" wind up in much more comfortable quarters than they were before because it turns out your apartment gets pretty fucked up after you live in in for 10, 15, or 25 years. Almost every time the new unit they move into results in much much better living conditions than whatever cheap ass fucked up apartment I'm asking them to leave. I know it's shocking to you, but two little old ladies on fixed incomes of $700/mo each shouldn't be living in a unit with rates holes and an old claw foot tub they could bust ass getting out of that hasn't seen a dime invested in it since 1995. Instead they have a recently updated unit with a new walk in shower half as far from the train. But yes, because they are now paying me $700/mo instead of $600 Chicago has an "affordability crisis"...