Pritzker’s affordable housing plan gets Senate hearing as municipalities remain opposed

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers questioned affordable housing advocates, municipal leaders and members of the public Thursday on Gov. JB Pritzker’s Building Up Illinois Developments plan.

The plan, known as BUILD, was announced by Pritzker during his budget address in February. It hasn’t moved in the legislature despite the passage of House and Senate deadlines for moving bills, though several of its components were the subject of a nonvoting Senate Executive Committee hearing this week.

It aims to overhaul the state’s residential zoning laws to address a statewide housing shortage of roughly 142,000 units and meet a demand of 225,000 units over the next five years, according to data from the governor’s office.

Oral testimony and questioning from lawmakers on the six BUILD bills lasted nearly three hours. Proponents of BUILD argued that the primary driver of the current housing affordability crisis is a lack of supply caused by regulatory hurdles and inconsistencies across municipalities.

Opponents of the package — primarily municipal leaders — argued that BUILD infringes on local home rule authority and imposes a “one-size-fits-all” approach to residential zoning. Some also complained that it would impose unfunded mandates on municipalities and did not go far enough to address affordability concerns.

Members of the Senate Executive Committee said the meeting would not lead to a vote on the bills under consideration but was aimed at focusing on feedback and best practices. Despite the passage of bill movement deadlines, the legislature has ways of moving bills quickly late in the legislative session, which is scheduled to conclude on May 31.

Senators began the hearing by introducing the six pieces of legislation in question — Senate Bills 4060, 4061, 4062, 4063, 4064 and 4071 — before handing it off to Olivia Ortega, the governor’s director of housing solutions, to provide testimony.

“Our current rules make it very difficult to build the homes people need, and that is what BUILD is designed to address,” Ortega said. Trying to deflect claims by opponents that the bills would amount to changing the character of Illinois neighborhoods, Ortega said BUILD would spark only “incremental increases in housing supply.”

Supporters make their case

Supporters of the initiatives see it as a market-driven solution to Illinois’ growing affordability problem. Increasing supply by cutting regulatory red tape would temper exorbitant housing and living costs across the state, proponents argued.

Among the most ambitious of the BUILD provisions is the ability of property owners to construct “middle housing,” or multi-dwelling units such as duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, on lots restricted to single-family homes under current zoning codes.

The six bills would allow for the construction of middle housing, permit multi-family dwellings to be constructed with a single stairwell, establish a statewide formula for calculating impact fees, expedite timelines by allowing third-party inspectors, do away with parking requirements based on number of tenants and allow property owners to lease accessory dwelling units to outside renters.

Emily Bloom-Carlin, director of housing and community development at the Metropolitan Planning Council, a Chicago-based nonprofit that researches and advocates for affordable housing initiatives, testified that the impact of this legislation could be far-reaching.

Constructing additional units in certain neighborhoods, along with a proposed $250 million capital grant to assist first-time and low- and middle-income homebuyers, may increase school district revenues and improve local infrastructure, Bloom-Carlin argued.

“When the rules make room for smaller, more varied homes, more of them get built and affordability improves,” Bloom-Carlin said. “BUILD is a careful, tested, common-sense response to a problem that has been decades in the making.”

Illinois REALTORS CEO Jeff Baker framed it in the context of economic opportunity.

“This package of legislation represents one of the most meaningful and impactful policy shifts our state has made toward making the American Dream realistic to everyone in our state that desires it,” Baker said.

Concerns over local control, gentrification

Opponents were less flowery. Illinois Municipal League CEO and former Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole said the league’s objections to the bill stemmed from the state going over the heads of local authorities to impose new statewide zoning regulations.

“The core issue for us is the preemption of local authority, and that also means the preemption of local input,” Cole said.

Cole referenced earlier testimony from a proponent of the legislation, establishing a mantra that other BUILD opponents repeated throughout the remainder of the hearing.

“Somebody earlier indicated that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work,” Cole said. “And we agree!”

Concerns about the state undermining local authority were not the only ones voiced by BUILD opponents. Isabel Cabrera, a Mexican immigrant and Chicago resident who had to relocate from the Logan Square neighborhood due to affordability concerns, argued that simply building more housing units will not result in lower costs. Instead, Cabrera feared that more people in her community would be displaced.

“Density without affordability is not justice,” Cabrera said, “It’s gentrification.”

Many opponents indicated they were not opposed to the entire BUILD proposal, but that key aspects needed refinement to more directly address affordability concerns.

Daniel Lauber, an attorney from Chicago’s west suburbs, echoed this and lamented the legislative product before the committee, arguing that rezoning, as described in SB4060, will change the “character” of neighborhoods across the state.

“I love the goals of SB4060,” Lauber said of the particular BUILD bill that would rezone areas for middle housing. “But the devil is in the details, and sadly, SB4060 is not ready for primetime.”

Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, inquired about protections against market pressures that may arise from the construction of additional units in neighborhoods. Aquino said he and his wife recently sold their home and moved into a multigenerational home due to affordability concerns.

Similarly, Sen. Donald DeWitte, R-St. Charles, raised concerns about changing land values that could negatively affect current homeowners.

Ortega indicated that the land value component will be addressed by the $250 million capital investment but stated that market protections had not been included in the introduced legislation.

Aidan Klineman is an undergraduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.