There is a housing crisis and everyone is feeling it. More than 240,000 black residents have been forced out of Chicago and over 40,000 Latinx residents have been pushed out of Pilsen and Logan Square alone since 2000. Over half of Cook County renters of all races are paying more than they can afford. We face these facts with action. Our coalition of community groups, labor unions, and Aldermen have introduced a package of meaningful reforms to respond to the housing crisis in our communities and city.
The Our Home Chicago Ordinances are a coordinated package of legislation aimed at passing real policy reforms to solve Chicago’s affordable housing crisis and realize our shared vision for a more unified , equitable, inclusive Chicago where everyone has the opportunity to grow up and grow old in the neighborhood of their choice and where our zip code doesn't define our destiny.
The two Our Homes Chicago ordinances are the Homes for All Ordinance to preserve and desegregate Chicago’s public housing and ensure an accountable, transparent CHA, and the Development for All Ordinance which will fulfill Chicagoans' vision for inclusionary, equitable patterns of development moving forward by mandating that 30% of all new development in the city's most affluent neighborhoods be rented at genuinely affordable prices for working-class people.
This legislation consists was re-introduced to Chicago City Council under the new Administration by lead sponsors Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), and Alderman Chris Taliaferro (29th) and is backed by a partnering coalition of over 35 community organizations and 3 labor unions.
The hyper-development and gentrification of Chicago's "hottest" neighborhoods are the "other side of the coin" of the under-development, disinvestment, and blight that afflict many "forgotten" neighborhoods of Chicago that are still struggling to recover from our unrepaired legacy of redlining and segregation.
Together, the Homes for All and Development for All Ordinances will help disrupt Chicago's long-standing patterns of residential segregation by creating opportunities for inclusion for people of modest means and people of color in neighborhoods that have historically excluded them, while simultaneously helping to produce a more balanced flow of development and investment across all of Chicago's neighborhoods, including those generally ignored by "private capital."
