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Evanston sees sharp rise in tenant–landlord help requests, MTO reports
Summary
Metropolitan Tenants Organization reported a 55.8% year‑over‑year rise in contacts (199 calls in 2025 to 310 for Jan–May 2026), with lease questions and maintenance problems the top issues and a notable spike in disturbance reports; staff said landlord-initiated contacts increased to about 14%.
Anna Ellisa, housing and economic development analyst, presented the Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO) tenant–landlord services report covering 2025 and the first five months of 2026 at the June 16 committee meeting.
Ellisa said MTO handled 484 total calls in 2025 for Evanston residents, plus 98 Housing 311 referrals and 21 text-for-help texts. She told the committee that Jan–May 2026 contacts rose sharply year to date — from 199 last year to 310 this year — a 55.8% jump. The most common issues in 2025 were lease questions (125 cases) and maintenance concerns (116 cases); evictions and early terminations were 48 cases each.
The report also flagged a sharp rise in disturbance complaints, from six cases in 2025 to 41 already in 2026, and a rise in landlord‑initiated contacts from 4.7% of inquiries in 2025 to about 14% this year. Ellisa said the bulk of requests continue to come from tenants (about 95% in 2025) but that the proportion of landlord requests has grown.
MTO attorney Philip Devon answered committee questions about the types of disturbances (noise, neighbor disputes, and sometimes landlord entry and notice issues) and said the organization will continue to support landlords and tenants where there is no conflict of interest. Committee members and MTO discussed disaggregating categories for future reporting and running a fresh survey using text outreach to raise response rates.
The committee asked MTO to return with a fuller October report that could include more context, anecdotal case studies and disaggregated data for categories such as disturbances, lease nonrenewal notices, and retaliation claims.
The committee received the report for discussion; no vote was required.
