Before the Pandemic, Markham, IL, had a major issue: over 400 homes were left vacant, abandoned, and vandalized. This may not sound like a lot, but when you realize the city of Markham has only a little over 4,000 housing units, you realize that ten percent of homes left in disarray can leave a black eye on this southern Cook County community. As often is the case with many areas in major distress, the only way they are able to break free from the issue is by investors coming in and rehabbing properties. Over the last four years, Markham has been a hot spot for investors looking to buy a property, fix it up, and either sell it as a flip or use it as a rental property. But as Markham has seen an influx of investors coming in, Mayor of Markham Roger A. Agpawa has decided the quality of life in his village has gone down due to the 28% renter population. The local government has now issued a rental moratorium from December 18th to September 18th, not allowing for current vacant properties to get the proper licensing to rent out their homes. Many investors with a property ready to have a new tenant are left scratching their head.
Southern Cook County has many villages that have made it harder to rent out properties such as South Holland, Orland Park, and Hazel Crest to name a few, but even before the moratorium Markham has made the entire process of getting the required rental license nearly impossible. Not only does the home have to pass village inspection (which is totally reasonable), but the owner of the home must show up at a city council meeting (something this local government only publishes the dates of a few days before) making it near impossible for investors from out of state to get to the meeting and get a license.
Beyond that, the mayor of Markham has found any way possible to slam landlords with fines for things their tenants have done. In an area with little economic opportunities, high taxes, and crime, Mayor Roger A. Agpawa has decided to make it a best practice to chase out the investors who are putting money into his community where he has failed. If you are an investor or a real estate agent working in the Markham area, please make sure you are aware of the current conditions before buying in Markham.
As of right now, I would give the village of Markham an investment grade of F as they are actively making it near impossible to rent out your homes after you rehab them. That being said, we are working with many landlords and landlord associations in the area to fight for change. The Markham homeowners are tired of living on streets with abandoned burnt-down homes, and seeing the value of their homes go down while other town’s prices and values go up. The homeowners’ taxes have gone up every year, but with no equity in their homes due to the poor management by the mayor of Markham has all but made it impossible to find a better home to buy, and this is why many of these homes get abandoned. I will give Roger credit for the good he has done getting rid of businesses involved in prostitution and drugs. Still, the attack on renters is not only unwarranted, it is also illegal, in our opinion, and below I will go over why.
The first issue at hand is the 5th amendment which protects us against regulatory takings of our homes: the government shall not be able to take our homes without just compensation. The second and bigger law being broken is the fair housing act. HUD under new congress guidelines has written recommendations that you are discriminating anytime you block a group that is primarily of one protected group. By banning rentals in an entire village, you are discriminating against minorities who are disproportionately renters compared to home owners. While 75 percent of white families own their homes, less than 50% of black and Latino families do. This means when you limit rentals in an area, you are essentially limiting the chances a minority can move into that specific area. After all of this, it’s no surprise that the mayor of Markham is already a convicted felon for mail fraud he committed in 1999. With all of these things considered, we are looking for landlords in the Markham area to join us as we start to look into legal action against the mayor and village of Markham IL. Please message us at 224-601-5415 to get involved.
