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Hello Dr. Thompson. I'm a tenant in Illinois. I've been renting my home for 3 years. in those 3 years, our landlord has not considered any of our maintenance requests. When we moved in during the winter, we noticed the deck was sinking. He remarked that it would be taken care of in July. Three July's have passed without fixing the deck. It's collapsing, and I have to keep the kids access to outside space limited to protect them. I'd love for them to sit on the deck and enjoy playtime but that's not safe. When we moved in, we also saw the toilets were in disrepair. We asked for support in replacing one of them - he responded he'd do so if we went half way on cost. 3 years later, he has not paid for his half or taken it out of our rent costs.

There's so much more I can point out in the maintenance that's needed within our home from cabinets to closet doors. He let us know when we moved in that we were responsible for little things around the house, but when we've tried to bring up anything up, he won't define what is "the little things" leaving us in a state of needing repairs piling up all while raising the rent this year.

Our landlord is aware that we live in a location that can fill up the home just as quickly as we would give notice of leave. Is this why he doesn't take into consideration any of our needs? Why is the landlord getting away with banking on our livelihoods? We need tenant protections. We need rent regulation. We need guarantee of safe and healthy housing. Unlike landlords, we can't afford another life. Stand with tenants. Thank you.