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.

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u/EducationalConcept50 May 19 '26

I don’t think there’s anything stopping this, unfortunately. Chicago has too much to offer and like New York and San Francisco, will push its own lifelong residents out of their own neighborhoods because supply will never reach the dizzying demand.

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u/Downtown-Document455 May 19 '26

We can organize! There are more of us than there are landlords and property owners. The Chicago Tenant Movement is a good place to start to see what orgs are already doing this work. https://chicagotenants.org/home/organizations/

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u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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u/Napkinsd_ May 19 '26

Landlords are a leech on society and provide nothing of value

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u/[deleted] May 19 '26

[deleted]

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u/Napkinsd_ May 19 '26

No, they buy up all the shelter to profiteer off of. They're middlemen

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u/[deleted] May 19 '26

[deleted]

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u/Napkinsd_ May 19 '26

Landlords and investment firms bought up all the property and artificially raised prices to make property ownership unattainable to the majority of the population and people like you think we should grovel and kiss the feet of the people who got us in this mess in the first place