Priced out of their own homes: How rising property taxes are threatening longtime Chicago residents

NBC 5 Responds Priced out of their own homes: How rising property taxes are threatening longtime Chicago residents Property taxes topped the list of costs Chicago-area residents want lowered, according to a recent, unscientific NBC 5 Responds survey of more than 1,200 people By PJ Randhawa and Leigh Lesniak • Published 28 minutes ago • Updated 13 seconds ago A bookshelf filled with vinyl records is Randy Temple’s pride and joy. He’s been collecting them for 65 years, and the haul used to be much larger. But four years ago, Temple says he lost most of his belongings -- except for this small section of his record collection -- when a fire destroyed his Chicago home. Stream NBC 5 for free, 24/7, wherever you are. WATCH HERE Temple bought the Logan Square two-flat in 1992 for about $100,000. When it burned down 30 years later, he decided to rebuild on the exact same spot. Following the rebuild, Cook County reassessed the property for $1.67 million, sending Temple’s property tax payments from $13,022 in 2024, to $27,411 in 2025. “At this current tax rate, I will probably be able to stay for another two, maybe three years,” Temple told NBC 5 Responds while sitting in living room. County records show he’s paid his property taxes and has no outstanding amount due. However, Temple estimates paying the bills in full has eaten up 40 percent of his income. He relies on Social Security and a pension from his longtime career at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, now called Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Temple said he appealed the property reassessment, but the county denied it. The Cook County Assessor’s office confirmed the appeal denial to NBC 5 Responds, explaining the rebuild significantly increased Temple’s property value. NBC 5 Responds NBC 5 Responds 17 hours ago How rising costs are pushing Chicago-area residents to the brink Responds Oct 30 Major companies like Target, Walmart now at center of FTC probe into pricing concerns Property taxes topped the list of costs Chicago-area residents want lowered, according to a recent, unscientific NBC 5 Responds survey of more than 1,200 people. Nearly 27 percent said housing costs led them to consider moving out of their community in the past year. History shows this is not a new problem for Chicago. “People are being actively displaced from their homes,” said DePaul University professor of geography Winifred Curran, who's been studying Chicago property taxes for more than two decades. “Every three years, depending on the neighborhood, we're seeing increases that can be 60 percent, 90 percent, 120 percent,” Curran said According to Curran, the increases are happening due to the decline of commercial real estate value. “Property taxes are one of the main ways that we fund city government," Curran said. "And there aren't a lot of other options to make up for that money if we start cutting property taxes." Curran noted this cycle may harm some of the most vulnerable people in our communities: seniors. “They're on limited incomes," Curran said. "They don't have the resources to pick up and move… and what we see is that when elderly homeowners are displaced, it can quite literally be deadly. That it has a really negative impact on health." How to appeal your home's assessed value If you believe your home’s assessed value is too high, you can appeal at the county level through the Cook County Assessor’s Office or the Cook County Board of Review . You may also qualify for property tax exemptions that could lower your bill, including breaks for homeowners, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. Temple says he plans to file for a senior tax exemption. Even if it’s approved, he doesn’t believe it will provide enough financial relief to allow him to stay in his home. In a conversation with NBC 5 Responds, Temple said he has “no idea” where he’d go, and leaving his longtime neighbors is an unsettling prospect. “If I go someplace else, a single man, I'm coming up on 80 years old," Temple said. "Who's gonna take care of things for me?” Renters are also facing ballooning costs. Chicago-area rents are up 4.5 percent from one year ago, according to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In some cases, property tax increases may be passed on from the property’s owner to the renter. This article tagged under: NBC 5 Responds