Getting Rich or Getting By? Owner-Occupant Landlords in Segregated Chicago

Recent research has illustrated how landlords perpetuate racial and class inequality by using subjective, discriminatory, and financially exploitive management strategies. Yet few studies consider the perspectives and practices of a unique group of property owners: resident landlords, or people who live alongside tenants in small, 2-to-4-unit buildings. This research examines the circumstances and experiences of this unique group, as well as the implications of their practices for tenants in this part of the affordable housing market. Based on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a racially- and economically-diverse group of 52 owner-occupants (the majority of whom are women and people of color), this study identifies the unique motivations that underlie resident landlords’ decisions to become building owners, as well as the logics that influence their rental practices. In the context of a nationwide affordable housing crisis, this research contributes to existing literatures on housing inequality, landlord-tenant relationships, and alternative and community economics.