Governor JB Pritzker announced his plan to address the state’s housing shortage in 2026. This is the third year in a row I’ve written about proposed legislation to unlock new housing in Illinois, and this should be the year – the governor and General Assembly leadership are fully aligned.
Pritzker’s budget address on Wednesday covered a wide range of housing issues in four minutes:
- the size of the shortage (227,000 new homes are needed by 2030 to keep up with demand)
- everything is too damned expensive! rent is too high!
- not enough homes are being built
- redlining played a role in housing being built less often in certain areas
- regulations inhibit new homes and small homes from getting built
- bureaucratic red tape
- parking mandates require too much parking that are unused and expensive
Watch the full 4-minute housing speech, part of his hourlong budget address.
To resolve these issues, Gov. Pritzker is working with legislative leaders in the Illinois House and Illinois Senate to introduce a package of bills:
- Impact Fee Modernization: SB 4062
- Third Party Review: SB 4063 – in cases where a municipality cannot review a building permit quickly enough an applicant could hire a third-party reviewer.
- Legalizing Middle Housing: SB 4060 – this would allow multifamily housing as of right on lots with a minimum of 2,500 s.f., and the larger the lot the more homes each lot would be permitted; cottage clusters would also be permitted.
- Parking Reform: SB 4064
- Single Stair Reform: SB 4061 – small multifamily buildings with a single means of egress are as safe or safer than those with more than one.
- ADUs (bill number forthcoming) – do I even have to say what this is about? The bill would permit accessory dwelling units in all zoning districts that permit residential uses.
And a single bill in the House: omnibus HB 5626
Abundant Housing Illinois volunteers were in Springfield yesterday to listen to Governor Pritzker’s budget speech and to push for bold housing solutions to reduce the housing shortage – evident by continually rising prices – that persists across the state.
The new bills that Governor Pritzker’s office announced today – collectively called BUILD – will have a big impact on permitting new starter homes and allowing multi-family housing all over the state, among other changes to speed up housing construction. These bills will have the biggest effect on reducing housing costs when passed collectively.