* Injustice Watch last month…

A first-of-its-kind analysis of tax and property records by the Investigative Project on Race and Equity in partnership with Injustice Watch reveals how, since 2019, more than 1,000 owner-occupied homes in Cook County — including more than 125 homes owned by seniors — were taken through property tax foreclosure. […]

While owner-occupied homes lost to tax foreclosure represent only a tiny fraction of Cook County’s 1.5 million residential properties, records and census figures show they are highly concentrated in predominantly Black communities like Roseland, Englewood, and Chicago Heights.

More than half of all homes were taken following an initial property tax debt of $1,600 or less, records show. A dozen started out owing less than $200. […]

The issue has been pushed to the forefront again after a two-year-old unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case out of Minnesota emphatically declared the practice a violation of the so-called “takings clause” in the Bill of Rights. […]

In a 9-0 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, the high court ruled Minnesota’s practice of selling homes for unpaid tax debt and pocketing the difference violated the Fifth Amendment’s “takings clause,” which prohibits government taking private property without just compensation.

* Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas today…

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas plans to postpone the Annual Tax Sale for seven months, during which time she hopes to work with legislators on comprehensive property tax foreclosure reform measures.

At Pappas’s urging, the Illinois General Assembly last week passed legislation that allows the Treasurer to postpone the Annual Tax Sale previously set to be held this August. The legislation also provides that during the delay no additional interest will be charged on delinquent bills subject to the sale. Once the legislation officially becomes law, she will be allowed to delay the sale until March 2026.

“I commend the members of the General Assembly for giving me the flexibility to postpone the tax sale, and for minimizing the amount of interest that late-paying property owners will face after the postponement,” Pappas said. “The delay gives me the time to collaborate with housing advocates and other partners on comprehensive property tax foreclosure reform legislation that’s good for Cook County, the state of Illinois, and property owners. The time for stopgap reform measures has passed. Now is the time for significant and enduring reform.”

Cook County’s Annual Tax Sale is required by state law and typically must be held no more than 13 months after the second installment due date. During the sale, tax buyers pay delinquent property taxes in exchange for a lien on the property. If property owners don’t pay off that lien, with interest, the tax buyer can take title to the property.

Pappas’s postponement request came in the wake of a 2023 decision by the United States Supreme Court that called into question the way property tax collection enforcement has been conducted in Illinois and many other states.

* Crain’s…

Other counties across Illinois may follow Cook County’s lead, as they all operate delinquent tax sales in essentially the same way. […]

Illinois is the last holdout among 12 states covered by the Supreme Court’s May 2023 decision. The court ruled that tax sales as they’ve been done for decades infringe on property owners’ rights under the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits governments from taking private property for public use without compensating the owner. In those tax sales, the county collects a property’s unpaid back taxes by allowing tax buyers to put a lien on the property. Over the course of years, the tax buyer can take full ownership of the property. […]

The other 11 states that operated tax sales in the same way have all made changes to their systems in the two years since the Tyler ruling. Illinois has not. Last week, the legislature in Springfield failed to pass a last-minute amendment that state Sen. Celina Villanueva (12th-Chicago) introduced that would have put a moratorium on tax sales statewide.