It was not until I had moved back to Oak Park as a property owner that I started to hear things about renters. These were comments that painted renters as “others” — transients, not part of the community. This was a bit hurtful and odd to me since I had grown up as a renter in a city where renting is the norm, and I spent four years renting in Oak Park.
Most of what I heard was also not true. I have been a renter, an owner, and a landlord, and I have heard people in each of these groups mention perceived generalities about the others. I’d like to dispel some of them.
1. Real Oak Parkers are owners: Oak Park is about 42% rental and 58% owner and is a relatively dense suburb. The biggest change I experienced when returning as an owner is that I became visible. Systems are in place to welcome and embrace home owners.
2. Renters are not taxpayers: When I was a landlord there was no magical pot of money from which I paid my real estate taxes. Renters don’t pay these taxes directly, but rather pay as part of their rent. The owner/landlord is then able to pay the taxes directly and take the tax write off. Consequently, we all contribute to the pot.
3. Oak Park owners are rich: It’s nearly impossible to be poor and own property in Oak Park; however, there is quite a span between poverty and wealth. It is relative, but a study done using 2010-14 data showed that, of households with mortgages, 18% are paying 30-50% of income on their mortgages and 12% are paying over 50%. That’s 30% paying more than the recommended percentage on their mortgage alone. This shows that many families living here are stretching themselves to own. So don’t assume that everyone who owns a home is swimming in cash and can afford continued tax hikes.
4. Renters are transient: Renters move for the same reasons that owners move — safety, amenities, more space, good schools, job change, affordability, etc. Renters are, at times, forced to move when rent increases extend them beyond affordability. Hence tax increases affect them, too.
5. Renters don’t value community: Community is built in different ways, depending on life stage, circumstances and culture. Whether it is at a bar, church, reading group or PTO, most of us seek community in some way. People of all ages, income levels, and marriage status are important members of the broader community and can contribute greatly when given the space and opportunity. But to do so, they first need to feel that they are a part of the community — that they belong.
Many folks have had major concerns about the size and number of new rentals being introduced into downtown Oak Park. Now that they have been built, it is time for us to focus more on how to welcome our new neighbors and change the narratives we’ve been using to describe each other. There are others who have struggled with the rising rents to remain part of the community.
Whether you have rented or owned here for years or are a new resident, all should be welcome and considered an important member of a community that offers multiple ways to get engaged. I do not suggest that the concerns that some have had about housing affordability, traffic congestion, school overcrowding or architectural aesthetics have gone away. However, I do believe it is important to work together on these issues as a community. And that is difficult to do when we don’t see each other simply as neighbors.
Whether you pay real estate taxes directly or indirectly, what makes us Oak Parkers is reflected in what we do to make this a better place for all.
Linda T. Francis, director of Success of All Youth, an initiative of the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, shares her personal views, which do not represent the Community Foundation.
