CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (Chambana Today) — On Saturday, November 22, 2025, renters and community members from the Champaign-Urbana area will gather at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center for a town hall to voice their frustrations over Illinois’ ongoing affordable housing crisis. The event, organized by the Lift the Ban Coalition, aims to shed light on the challenges renters face in an increasingly unaffordable rental market.
The open forum, set to begin at 1 p.m., is expected to draw a larger crowd than the coalition’s September Bloomington event, which saw more than 50 local residents in attendance. Renters at that meeting shared their struggles with unresponsive landlords who fail to address issues such as black mold and leaky ceilings, while continuing to raise rent prices.
The town hall is part of Lift the Ban’s broader campaign to address Illinois’ housing crisis and advocate for rent control policies. The coalition is seeking to repeal the Rent Control Preemption Act of 1997, which currently prohibits municipalities in Illinois from enacting their own rent control measures. Testimonies from local renters will be taken to Springfield, as the coalition continues to push for legislation that would restore rent control in cities across the state.
As the state grapples with a growing shortage of affordable housing, Mangels stressed that renters are facing rising rent prices without adequate protections from landlords.
“Everyone in the state is impacted by this housing crisis,” she said. “Particularly renters who are subject to landlords, especially big corporations. They have a lot of power, a lot of money, and are able to raise the rent rates as much as they want whenever they want. In essence, landlords aren’t regulated.”
The event is free and open to the public.