Address the Eviction Crisis

SHEcovery™ Actions

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago’s low-income renters and households of color were already experiencing high levels of housing insecurity. As the employment crisis worsened for women and people of color, rent payments were delayed, revealing an ominous threat of eviction to an already distressed population.

Pre-existing disparities in race and socioeconomic status affected housing realities for renters and homeowners during the pandemic; women and people of color were among the most negatively affected.

Impact on Families of Color

Impact on Women

The lifting of federal eviction moratoriums will impact approximately 21,000 Chicago households as they could be evicted from their homes. Once evicted, the risk of homelessness only increases.

Impact on Women

Nationally, the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project estimated that at least 25% of U.S. renters could be pushed out of apartments, impacting up to 23 million Americans. Black women would be at the apex of this crisis, as they have been twice as likely to be behind on rent as white renters during the pandemic, putting them at risk for homelessness in its wake.¹⁵

Impact on Women

In Chicago, at least 32% of households are headed by single women.16 Nationally, 52.5% of Black households are headed by women, which means that the likelihood of women bearing the brunt of eviction risk is high across the nation and within Chicago.¹⁷

Impact on Women

Eviction data tells us that 1 in 5 Black women are evicted, compared with 1 in 15 white women. The pandemic has only intensified this issue, given that Black (and Latina) women have seen the most significant drop in their employment-to population ratios since February 2020.

Impact on Women

SHEcovery™

Priorities
In Action

CFW is stepping up its efforts to ensure an equitable recovery by identifying, uplifting, funding, advocating for and supporting nonprofits, grassroots organizations, and legislation focused on:

Prevent displacement of low-income families
Advocate to reinstate the federal eviction moratorium
Support to seal COVID-19 related evictions
Protect and expand affordable housing
Preserve existing affordable housing
Build a pipeline of affordable housing units

"While public health guidance and government orders called for “sheltering-at-home,”
thousands of Chicago residents did not have a place to call home."

ALL CHICAGO CFW Grantee