The Chicago Housing Justice League (CHJL), sometimes referred to as the Chicago Housing Justice Coalition, is a left-of-center fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice. The group advocates left-of-center housing policies in Chicago. ¹

The primary activity of CHJL is its Just Cause for Eviction initiative. Just Cause for Eviction is a campaign focused on placing restrictions on reasons for which a landlord can evict a tenant.  ²

Background

The Chicago Housing Justice League is a coalition of 37 organizations that advocate for “housing and racial justice.” ^{1 3}

Members of the CHJL include the Area Fair Housing Alliance, the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, the Chicago Homeless and Health Response Group for Equity, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the Chicago Urban League, Communities United, the Garfield Park Community Council, the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, Housing Choice Partners, the Latino Policy Forum, the Law Center for Better Housing, the Metropolitan Tenants Organization, Northside Action for Justice, the Northwest Side Housing Center, Open Communities, the Pilsen Alliance, Rooted REPS, the Shriver Center on Law and Poverty, SOMOS Logan Square, United Neighbors of the 35th Ward, the Uptown Peoples Law Center, and Working Family Solidarity. ²

CHJL advocates for the critical race-influenced theory of equity, stating it is focused on “working towards defining a racial equity framework for its future organizing work, [and] understanding the need for a thorough analysis of racial impact in every action we take.”  ¹

The coalition was formed in 2018 in response to the 5-Year Housing Plan launched by the City of Chicago. ¹

Activities

Just Cause for Eviction is the flagship program of Chicago Housing Justice League and has been in operation since 2020. CHJL claims that the campaign’s main goal is to organize support for legislation to prevent landlords from evicting tenants except in certain situations including “nonpayment of rent, criminal activity, or other documented violations of a tenant’s lease agreement.” ²

Alliance for Global Justice

Chicago Housing Justice League is a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice.  ⁴

The Alliance for Global Justice is a left-of-center group claiming to be focused on grassroots organizing. The group is heavily critical of what it perceives to be elements of “Empire,” including “U.S. Militarism” and transnational corporations.  ⁵

As part of its mission, AFGJ fiscally sponsors numerous groups; fiscal sponsorship is an arrangement by which an established nonprofit can lend its tax-exempt status to groups that have not yet been granted tax-exempt status, receiving donations on those groups’ behalf. ⁶

AFGJ has received criticism for having provided fiscal sponsorship to groups such as the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a group that the United States and Canada designated in 2024 as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization,” according to the United States Department of Treasury. ^{7 8}

Funding

The Chicago Housing Justice League was a fiscally sponsored project of the
Alliance for Global Justice as of 2024, according to donations given to the Alliance that year. ⁴

In 2024, the Michael Reese Health Trust gave $100,000 to the Alliance for Global Justice in support of the Chicago Housing Justice League. ⁹

In 2024, the Field Foundation of Illinois gave $30,000 to the Alliance for Global Justice in support of the Chicago Housing Justice League. ⁴

People

Frank Avellone founded the Chicago Housing Justice League in 2018. Before retiring, he was an attorney focused on worker and housing issues for forty years. Avellone worked at the Law Center for Better Housing (LCHB) from 2013 to 2021; at LCHB he held titles including policy director and senior attorney. In a published interview with LCHB, Avellone described himself as a “socialist-environmentalist.” ^{10 11}

Rachel Wilson has been a senior organizer with the CHJL since 2024. Previously, Wilson was a policy analyst at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation from 2021 to 2024, a program manager at West Side United from 2019 to 2021, and a health outreach and engagement coordinator at the Latin United Community Housing Association from 2017 to 2019. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Wilson volunteered on behalf of the Democratic primary campaign of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). ¹²

The steering committee of the CHJL consists of Diane Limas, a volunteer at Communities United; Antonio Gutierrez, founder of the Autonomous Tenants Union; Chante’ Gamby, housing coordinator at Cook County Health; and Mark Swartz, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing. ¹⁰

1. “Mission.” CHICAGO HOUSING JUSTICE COALITION. Accessed June 23, 2025. http://www.chihousingjustice.org/mission.html.
2. “Just Cause for Eviction.” Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. Accessed June 21, 2025. https://www.justcausechicago.org/.
3. “Chicago Housing Justice League .” Facebook. Accessed June 23, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/chicagohousingjustice.
4. “Field Foundation of Illinois,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2024. Schedule I.
5. “Our Mission.” Alliance for Global Justice, August 23, 2012. https://afgj.org/about/our-mission.
6. “Fiscal Sponsorship.” Alliance for Global Justice, March 21, 2023. https://afgj.org/fsp.
7. “United States and Canada Target Key International Fundraiser for Foreign Terrorist Organization PFLP.” U.S. Department of the Treasury, October 15, 2024. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2646.
8. Mauro, Ryan. “Samidoun Sanctioned as Terrorists: Why It’s a Bigger Deal than Realized.” Capital Research Center, October 16, 2024. https://capitalresearch.org/article/samidoun-sanctioned-as-terrorists-why-its-a-bigger-deal-than-realized/.
9. “Michael Reese Health Trust,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2024. Schedule I.
10. “Staff.” CHICAGO HOUSING JUSTICE COALITION. Accessed June 21, 2025. http://www.chihousingjustice.org/staff.html.
11. “Frank Avellone Retires from LCBH.” LCBH, October 7, 2022. https://lcbh.org/frank-avellone-retires-from-lcbh/.
12. Rachel Wilson. Accessed June 21, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-wilson-mup/.