Aldermen advance measure allowing Airbnb bans in Chicago precincts

Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune on Jun 11, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — Aldermen took a step Wednesday toward giving themselves the power to ban Airbnb and other short-term rentals from opening in their wards.

The City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee advanced the ordinance that would allow aldermen to unilaterally block new short-term rentals one precinct at a time. It could now face a final vote by all aldermen as soon as next week.

Sponsor Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, called the city’s current ordinance made a decade ago “extremely sloppy.” The existing law allows short-term rentals to be blocked only when 25% of a precinct’s registered voters sign a petition calling for it.

“This is the only ordinance written in the city of Chicago where, when there is a problem in the industry, the onus is put on residents to fix it,” Napolitano said.

The Far Northwest Side alderman’s ordinance seeks to reverse that, allowing aldermen to block short-term rentals in a precinct on their own. It would then give companies the chance to overturn the ban by collecting signatures from 10% of the precinct’s voters.

Most aldermen in attendance backed the ordinance in a voice vote. Several cited issues in their ward with disruptive parties at short-term rentals, a problem Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said is “on steroids” in dense downtown high-rises.

“The guests are taking over common areas, pool decks, lobbies, fitness rooms,” he said. “With the late night parties and noise complaints, et cetera, God help you if you own a condo next to one of these nightly rental units.”

Napolitano argued the ordinance will not hurt short-term rental companies, but instead simply gives aldermen a tool to advocate for residents when issues arise. But Airbnb is strongly opposed to the proposal.

“Alderman Napolitano’s ordinance amendment is an overbroad and misguided violation of Chicagoans’ property rights, which would punish responsible homeowners and local businesses who rely on the income from travel on short-term rentals — especially in neighborhoods outside of Chicago’s traditional tourism hubs,” Airbnb spokesperson Jonathan Buckner said in a statement Wednesday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is continuing to not take a side on the issue. Asked where he stood on the ordinance at a Wednesday morning news conference, he said he wanted to “continue to ensure that we are building a safe, affordable city.”

“This particular measure, quite frankly, I’ll have to look into a little bit deeper,” Johnson said. “But I know that there are a number of alders who mean well and are trying to show up for their particular pocket of the city.”

Several aldermen noted the absence of staff from Johnson’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, adding that they wished someone could answer questions about how bans could affect tax revenue. Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th, and Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, voted against the measure, with O’Shea noting taxes on the rentals sent around $4 million to fight domestic violence.

“Have we thought of how we are going to replace that?” O’Shea asked. “It’s been my experience working with Airbnb that when a problem is identified, it’s addressed.”

Ald. Marty Quinn, 13th, used the city’s current process requiring residents’ signatures to ban short-term rentals from every precinct in his Southwest Side ward. The whole-ward ban took 12,000 signatures and seven years to complete, he said.

The ward is “95% single family dwellings,” and short-term rentals “would have an adverse impact on our quality of life,” Quinn said.

Asked what he thinks of Airbnb’s argument that the ban is similar to historic racist efforts to keep Black and Latino people out of certain neighborhoods, Quinn called it a “desperate statement from a company who got exactly what they wanted” when the original ordinance passed.

“I’m not saying that Airbnb isn’t good in some parts of the city,” he said. “It’s just not good in the Bungalow Belt, and I have 12,000 signatures that would suggest that.”

Aldermen also Wednesday advanced a measure to crack down on illegal pedicabs with potential impoundments.

______