Springfield residents taking to the polls in Tuesday's midterm election will have the chance to vote on a referendum for a proposed list of all landlords in the city. Molly Wallace, Northwestern Medill School of Journalism graduate and Illinois Times reporter, shared more on the ballot item on NPR Illinois' Local Edition.
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Ben Singson
I'm here with Molly Wallace. She is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and has written for Illinois Times in the past. Molly, thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me.
Molly Wallace
Of course. Thanks for having me.
Ben Singson
All right. So I have you here just to ask a few questions about the landlord registry item that's on the ballots here in Sangamon County. For anyone who doesn't already know, could you just explain what this item is seeking to do?
Molly Wallace
Yeah, so the specific question on the ballot is, shall the city of Springfield adopt A landlord registry inspection and licensing program similar to other Illinois cities? So, there are three parts to that. A landlord registry would essentially just be a list of property owners with contact info, whether that list would be only available to the city or all people is yet to be determined. The licensing aspect comes from registering on that list as well as undergoing inspections, the kind of third aspect. And that all of it really remains to be worked out. But that part would depend on the city council and other interest groups. to determine the frequency of those inspections and other requirements.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. How did this kind of come to be? Like, who put this on the ballot?
Molly Wallace
So, it began with the Faith Coalition, which is a Springfield-based group, faith-based group, as the name would indicate. And I think they'd been advocating for a landlord registry for a while. The City Council has voted on it on the past and opted not to institute it or to put it on the ballot. And so, I believe after the last City Council vote in November 2025, the Faith Coalition started gathering signatures. And the rules with that and Illinois are that if you get 8%, if you get signatures equal to 8% of the people who last voted in the gubernatorial election in Springfield, then that measure can be put on the ballot. And they did. They got well over 5,000 signatures, I believe.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. Why did the Faith Coalition want to get this in front of voters?
Molly Wallace
So, I think the idea started because they felt, and I think a lot of renters and other organizers believe it's just too difficult to figure out who your landlord is and too difficult to contact them. So that's kind of where the registry component comes in. The means of finding out who owns the property you live in can be a little convoluted and is not something that the average person would know how to do. So, they wanted to streamline that. And then I believe in talking to renters as they were looking into this, they kind of discovered that there might be a real issue with a lot of derelict properties in Springfield that are not receiving the attention and care they need. And that a more robust inspection program might be the means of ensuring safer and better housing for Springfield renters.
Ben Singson
Gotcha. What are landlords in the city saying about it?
Molly Wallace
Yeah, you can probably guess the concerns have to do with how much it'll cost. So, there are several ways in which this might cost. There are fees associated with the registry and with getting the license. Again, what those fees would be dependent on what, if it passes, what the city council decides. But the Faith Coalition is proposing $20 registration fees with an additional $20 per unit annual fee, I believe. And the ideas, concerns largely from landlords opposed to it are that those fees would be passed down. They would have to then pass those down to their tenants. There's also concerns that if mandatory inspections were instituted, those inspections might require landlords to fix things that are, I guess they would say are frivolous. I've seen people being concerned that they'll have inspectors come in and tell them that they've got, you know, chipping paint and that will have additional costs. So, the idea is that it might raise rental costs across the board.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. You mentioned that this was kind of, I guess, inspired by other registries in other cities. Where have these been instituted and how well are they working out?
Molly Wallace
So, I know that a few, I mean, the only cities in larger cities in Illinois that don't have some kind of registry - landlord registry - are Springfield and Naperville. Champaign passed one in April. Elgin, which is similar in size to Springfield, has registry and inspections. Joliet has inspections and a registry and Peoria just has a registry. And I know that some cities have had issues with funding, but that, overall renters are happier to have a more streamlined process for addressing their concerns and that the cities are having an easier time of contacting, contacting landlords.
Ben Singson
Gotcha, gotcha. So, in your opinion, how likely do you think this particular item will be to pass?
Molly Wallace
So, I think that it, I think I could be wrong, but I think the likelihood of it actually passing is pretty high. The issue is that it's an advisory referendum, so there's no real obligation on the part of the city council to then move forward with actually instituting the language that's on the ballot into an ordinance. And I know that a lot of people have concerns that the city council, isn't going to be able to kind of organize all that would need to be organized to make it actually happen. And as far as how likely that is, I really don't know. I mean, if the majority of Springfield says they want it, I hope so.
Ben Singson
Gotcha. All right, Molly Wallace, graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Thank you very much.
Molly Wallace
Thank you. Have a great day.
