The reasons for Chicago’s rent surge

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Chicago Tribune Opinion

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

 
 

Good morning, Chicago. When I read today’s editorial about the surge in housing costs in Chicago and its suburbs, I thought about how lucky I was to have enough money to buy a condo in July 2020. In the midst of the pandemic, I bought an affordable home with a low-interest mortgage.

The Tribune Editorial Board summarizes the current situation, and it isn’t pretty. The crux of the problem is supply. The board hopes that local and state decision-makers do more than pay lip service to what needs to be done.

In its other editorial, the board highlights a Tribune analysis that digs into the eye-popping amounts of money the city has paid to outside law firms. In some instances, the billing was for a lawyer working more than 24 hours in a day. The Law Department needs to fix its oversight failures, the board writes.

In commentary, the consul general of Israel to the Midwest argues that Zionism needs to be reclaimed from the slur it’s become, and a CPS parent delves into the history of school vouchers in making the case that Illinois should walk away from the federal tax credit scholarship program. And foreign affairs columnist Daniel DePetris writes that even though the U.S. hopes the ceasefire in Lebanon will stick, history shows how unlikely that is.

Also, don’t miss our readers’ letters, particularly an articulate one about ageism and Donald Trump. 

Thank you as always for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.

— Colleen Kujawa, opinion editor

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Editorial: The reasons for Chicagoland’s rent surge aren’t mysterious. It’s a supply problem.

Chicago doesn’t just have a housing shortage, it has a system that too often prevents housing from being built.

Read more →

Editorial: The city must improve its oversight of outside law firms

Something clearly is wrong with how Chicago is managing what it pays outside law firms in police misconduct cases.

Read more →

Elad Strohmayer: Zionism is often used as a slur. We must reclaim the term.

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland.

Read more →

Erykah Nava: History tells us that school vouchers segregate and alienate

Voucher programs deepen segregation. Across several different states, voucher programs have shown to contribute to a racial and class divide.

Read more →

Daniel DePetris: Déjà vu in Lebanon

It appears that the White House wants to see the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon survive, but we’ve been here before.

Read more →

Letters: Stop blaming President Donald Trump’s behavior on ‘old age’

Blaming “old age” rather than examining the actual causes of physical limitations, cognitive decline or personality traits is a convenient shortcut.

Read more →
 

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