Today, November 4, 2026, Chicago City Council’s Budget Committee is holding its hearing on the Department of Planning and Development’s 2027 budget.

Dear Budget Committee Chair Ervin and members of council. My name is Steven Vance, and I’m a volunteer lead with Abundant Housing Illinois. We’re 500 advocates in Chicago who have a laser focus on stopping the rapid increase in rents and getting more people housed.

There’s a way to raise revenue without imposing new costs: let more housing get built, sooner and faster.

New homes mean new property tax base, permit fees, and construction activity. That’s why I’m concerned about the proposed 33% increase in the lease tax in the 2027 budget. Construction equipment, much of it rented, will cost more. And every homebuilder and architect who uses QuickBooks, AutoCAD, or a payroll service will pay more. Raising the cost of doing business raises the cost of housing.

The other big barrier is process. Most new housing in Chicago is approved through the Planned Development process, the most expensive way to approve housing. Changes to the zoning code can get housing permitted faster and with lower-cost reviews. I’ll briefly describe three ideas to raise revenue by speeding up housing approvals, inspired by the landmark report from Metropolitan Planning Council about Chicago zoning practices, flaws, and opportunities.

  1. More alderpersons should opt in to allow accessory dwelling units, without block by block restrictions. Homeowners who decide to build an ADU pay a little more in property taxes and the neighborhood gets an additional home.
  2. City Council’s zoning and housing committees should approve the introduced ordinances that would let modest multifamily housing be permitted quicker and less expensively. Every month not building means high borrowing costs and a delay in the city receiving new property tax revenue. Not every home should need costly approvals from the City Council.
  3. Build on what’s working. Under Commissioner Boatright’s leadership, city-owned land sales have accelerated and improved. The Missing Middle Infill Housing program has restarted construction on blocks that haven’t seen a new home in decades. Part of that success was changing the zoning map ahead of time. Program participants, and others inspired by the new construction, can now build a three-flat without paying for special approval.

I’d ask Commissioners Ciere Boatright (Planning and Development) and Lissette Castañeda (Housing): what staffing resources do your departments need to develop housing more rapidly? Can city-owned land sales go even faster? What additional changes to the zoning map would jumpstart building more homes less expensively?

This budget should make housing cheaper to build, not more expensive. Funding faster approvals is an investment that pays for itself.

Thank you.

The ordinances

  • Enable more homes and cheaper construction by allowing a single stair in smaller apartment buildings – SO2025-0017571
  • Eliminate minimum lot area per unit in multi-unit districts; excludes family-sized units from floor area – O2026-0028842
  • Allow single room occupancy buildings (SROs) and shelters by right in mixed-use districts; ends the zoning code’s soft roommate ban (I wrote more about this one last month) – O2026-0029459
  • Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) applications can score higher by proposing lower costs per unit – O2026-0029453
  • Lets home builders and small businesses get administrative approval instead of special use approval for many uses – O2024-0014002