Abundant Housing Illinois - Housing Articles

I doubt that A. Montgomery Ward or Daniel Burnham would consider this a “colossal missed opportunity.”

One recent West Side development clocked in at $884,000 per unit. While the city says it's working to address red tape that drives up expenses, advocates say more must be done to rein in "crazy" costs associated with affordable housing.

archived 28 Jul 2025 11:00:51 UTC

The nationwide housing shortage has driven rents up more in low-income neighborhoods than in the U.S. overall, but in areas that have recently added large amounts of housing, rents have fallen the most in lower-income neighborhoods with older buildings, according to an analysis of publicly available housing data.

We’ll find a way to keep SNAP working in Illinois, while also ensuring food pantries remain well-stocked, food bank leaders say. Also, standardized tests, Google, crime, ADUs, PBS cuts, Medicare, gender-affirming-care and the Sun-Times.

We agree that incorporating granny flats — coachhouses or converted basements, for example — could play a small but meaningful role in easing Chicago’s housing shortage.

By Ben Wolfenstein Ben Wolfenstein is Abundant Housing Illinois‘ State Legislative Lead. Read the Suburban Mayors Coalition for Fair Transit statement here. Read the Capitol Fax post about it here. Recently, the Illinois Municipal League published a statement from 25 suburban mayors and village presidents, calling themselves the Suburban Mayors Coalition for Fair Transit. It […]

Illinois must build 227,000 more housing units in the next five years if it is going to keep pace with demand, according to an economic report released Tuesday.

Chicago is facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit and a housing crisis exacerbated by rising rents and insufficient affordable options. To alleviate these issues, the city must focus on expanding hou…

A century-old home. A growing housing crisis. And a city caught between its past and its promises.

FALSE NARRATIVE As a former Springfield resident and engaged member of this community, I find the recent article "Economic gaps persist for Blacks" (May 15) to be less a data analysis and more a narrative instrument – crafted to reinforce the profitable illusion of racism rather than provide a clear-eyed view of economic complexity.

Ald. Bennett Lawson says Mayor Brandon Johnson doesn't have the votes for his all-or-nothing-approach to give single-family homeowners carte blanche to turn attics and basements into so-called "granny flats."

Zoning and land use on the Southwest Side haven’t kept up with its residents. They block new housing options and prioritize cars.

Before the law was adopted, if a person was incarcerated during the once-in-a-decade census they were counted at the prison, not in their home community, stripping political power from Black and Brown communities. Also, advocates urge state lawmakers to pass two bills that would help address Illinois' housing shortage.

archived 21 May 2025 18:12:18 UTC

A 366-unit affordable apartment development called Trinity Square, estimated to cost $157 million, is planned for the South Side church.

States have a clear mandate to address housing affordability, so we are assigning grades based on how they are doing now and how well they are addressing the future, by building affordable homes.

Investors have acquired a fifth of the mobile home market nationwide — often hiking rents on residents with nowhere else to go.

For starters, the city can eliminate a Byzantine funding process and a a long list of requirements and preferences for affordable projects, writes Richard Day, who worked in the administration of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

The consequences of unchecked PBM practices are clear in Illinois, where more than 80 pharmacies closed in 2024 alone.

We're a group of grassroots, professional, and civic groups in Chicago working to end parking mandates in Chicago. Parking mandates are a regressive, inflexible, and outdated policy of requiring a fixed amount of parking spaces to be built with any new commercial or residential development, even when the development is in an area (or serving a population) not expected to use the parking.

Three bills introduced in Springfield in mid-February aim to make housing development simpler in Chicago and Illinois.

A vote for a controversial zoning change on Broadway. Also, motivation from a nonprofit leader, thumbs-down on City Council members who voted for the $830 million city bond sale, why cellphones should be banned altogether from schools, and more disapproval of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Tradeoffs are in fact real

Do we want to keep leading the nation in corruption convictions, asks political scientist Dick Simpson. Plus: how city housing decisions fall short, rezoning on Broadway Avenue, and more reaction to the second Trump administration.

Through a package of five bills in Springfield, Illinois Realtors hopes to remove some of the obstacles to building new housing that contribute to the crisis of affordability for owners and renters.

While changes to the city’s zoning code under Envision Evanston 2045 are shelved until at least late summer, the state legislature will consider adopting

Aldermanic prerogative is antiquated and hurting our city. But reform is possible.