In August the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (CDSA) launched the interactive database Find My Landlord. The website features a map of rental properties across the city. The owners, along with their properties, can be found via the search function. All data is available for download.
In March, as the coronavirus pandemic thrust millions of Americans into economic uncertainty, CDSA began to focus more efforts around tenant organizing and joined the citywide coalition Chicago Tenants Movement. While all the data behind Find My Landlord is public, the most concise database made with the information so far is a private one used by real estate agents, realinfo.net. CDSA bought a subscription to the website and used it to provide data for tenants. Abid wanted to take on the painstaking task of making it a public tool. There’s a reason this has never been done before.
Abid and Liz-Lepiorz also made sure that tenants who visited were able to connect themselves to organizing resources. Above the search bar is a line that reads “Community stops eviction” with a link to sign up, sponsored by the Autonomous Tenants Union. They have also helped train 30 volunteers with the Chicago Tenants Movement which has a hotline open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 AM to 2 PM and 5 PM to 9 PM.
“We found 110, a little over that, properties where the tax address is A. Saccone & Sons’s address,” said Duffy. The union has members from 12 of those properties, and has now grown to over 50 members.
