Many Chicago renters have been priced out of apartments in their neighborhoods over the past few decades. In eight neighborhoods over the last year, however, a city ordinance gives tenants a shot at buying their building if it goes up for sale.On the Northwest Side, where the Tenant Opportunity to P urchase Act has been in effect for more than a year, city officials say only one tenant association has purchased their building, out of hundreds of property sales in the area. Seven tenant groups went through the process but were unable to buy the building, according to the city. One group of Logan Square renters has sued their landlord for not complying with the ordinance. The ordinance also went into effect in April around the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side. There have been no attempts to purchase in that area yet.Many landlords and renters still don’t know about the ordinance, housing advocates say, and the process of buying a home is especially difficult for working-class renters.Palenque LSNA, a nonprofit that has long pushed for affordable housing, is trying to change that — with help this summer from some young organizers.On a sweltering recent day, dozens of students canvassed the changing Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Their goal: getting the word out to renters how to potentially buy in their community. Esther Yoon-Ji Kang/WBEZ Maryangel Rodriguez is one of the interns this summer with the summer housing youth program. The Pomona College senior spent a lot of her childhood in Logan Square, when there wasn’t much to do there. Now that the neighborhood is one of the hottest parts of Chicago, the families she grew up with can no longer afford to live there. Rodriguez, 21, says canvassing can be tedious at times, but she remembers her goal: “Hearing more people be like, ‘I bought my house and I was able to stay in my neighborhood that I've lived in my entire life’ — that's what we're looking for.” Esther Yoon-Ji Kang/WBEZ The Palenque summer housing internship is funded through the Chicago Youth Works program. It brings together college-age interns and local high-school students and teaches them about organizing around housing affordability. The youth met at Kelvyn Park High School in the Hermosa neighborhood, an area that has seen rising home prices and families moving in after being displaced from neighboring Logan Square. Esther Yoon-Ji Kang/WBEZ Tenant advocates say getting the word out about the ordinance and finding funding to help renters with a down payment are major challenges. Chicago’s Department of Housing has hosted webinars with realtors, tenants, and current owners to boost awareness of the program and explain how to navigate the TOPA process. City officials also said they simplified forms and processes and dedicated a staff member to answer questions about the program. Palenque organizers are also campaigning for a city fund to help tenant associations with down payments. Esther Yoon-Ji Kang/WBEZ Gary Jimenez, a 25-year-old housing organizer with Palenque, leads the summer youth program. About a decade ago, the landlord in the Humboldt Park apartment Jimenez’ family lived in announced a rent hike in order to make some repairs to the building. Jimenez’ parents — a truck driver and a factory worker — couldn’t afford the new amount, and the family had to move out. They bounced around from place to place until his mom could buy a home several blocks west. "I was gentrified out of my neighborhood,” he said. “I’m really passionate about ensuring [that] people that look like me continue living in the neighborhood that they grew up in.” ...read more read less