RODERICK WILSON MOVED TO CHICAGO FROM CHAMPAIGN IN 1997 TO STUDY AT Northeastern Illinois University. He settled in Bronzeville but was soon displaced by rising rents in the gentrifying South Side neighborhood. It wasn’t until about a decade later that Wilson became aware of an Illinois law, passed the same year he moved to Chicago, that prevents municipalities from limiting rent hikes. That law is now a battleground in the fight he helps lead for affordable housing.
The law was passed at the behest of property owners who felt that ever since Chicago passed its Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance in 1986,
