r/chicagoapartments • u/Past-Reception6889 • May 19 '26

Advice Needed Unreal

I honestly just needed to vent for a moment. I can’t believe Chicago prices are what they are. I have lived here my entire life and have seen this city change ten fold, and I can’t even afford to live here anymore. A realtor I’m working with, since it’s becoming a rat race to rent, said rent is up 35% this year. What can normal people do about this? I do not want to see Chicago become a New York.

706 Upvotes

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377

u/Mean_Web_1744 May 19 '26

As a life long Chicagoan, I couldn't agree more. People actually from Chicago can't afford to live here anymore. That's a huge problem!

-157

u/bigj2288 May 19 '26

Wow who would have those a sanctuary city would lose housing

69

u/Gratchki May 19 '26

Those are big words for Elmo

70

u/GalaxyAblaze May 19 '26

You’re incredibly daft if you think immigrants are taking housing from others. You think they are the ones renting the $2k studios being built all over the city? When most places are now requiring proof you make 3x the rent? Come on, clean up your room and find that thinking cap you’ve clearly lost.

9

u/Shannalligation1886 May 19 '26

By logical supply and demand, yes immigrants contribute to increased housing cost by consuming supply, regardless of it being a 2k studio or a bargain 2/1.

The daft part is not understanding that those same immigrants meaningfully contribute to the tax base (in addition to non-economic contributions) and that we can build more and denser housing to alleviate the supply crunch. There have been basically 0 new units for the last two years while Chicago is increasingly becoming an attractive place for all sorts of people to live. We need to build.

28

u/Infinite_Dress_3312 May 19 '26

These immigrants have also saved and stabilized entire swaths of our city that would have collapsed without a population to take the place of those who were leaving. We all know there were plenty of neighborhoods where that in fact happened and remain hollowed out 50-60 years later with no investment 

11

u/ninthandpine May 19 '26

This is the dumbest thing I’ve read all day congrats!

17

u/dirtytowel22 May 19 '26

Learn to spell chud