On March 20, voters in nine Chicago wards were faced with a simple question at the end of their ballot: “Should the state repeal the ban on rent control?”

Such a simple query belies the intense amount of organizing that has galvanized housing activists and changed the debate around Chicago’s housing problems. After more than a year of fighting to get the measure on the ballot, the outcome of the vote speaks to the frustration many people feel about rising housing costs in Chicago: 75 percent of voters supported the measure.

It was a remarkable success, built on thousands of hours of volunteer phone banking, canvassing, and signature gathering. Though rent control remains illegal in the city, organizers have changed the terms of the debate and laid the groundwork for future battles for housing justice in our communities.