1) Campaign Email - Info@marybethcanty.org
2) YOUR PLATFORM: Link to your website about housing - Marybethcanty.org
3) YOUR COMMUNITY: Is your district suffering from a housing shortage?
Yes
4) YOUR RECORD: Are there pro-housing policies or specific housing developments you have supported in the past that you would like to highlight?
I was on the Arlington Heights Village Board and helped usher in our municipal ordinance on affordable housing. I have also served on the Housing Committee for both of my terms, and have worked on multiple housing issues.
5) YOUR Plans: Housing costs are increasing for everyone, but renters in particular are bearing the brunt of this crisis, with many frequently spending 30, 40, and even 50% of their income on rent.
What can the State do to bring down prices for both subsidized and market rate housing, and what are some actions that you support in order to achieve that?
I addition to those you mention, we should also look to incentivizing more midrange housing, which will create more supply.
6) Would you work on state legislation to end local exclusionary zoning that only allows for single family homes , and require municipalities to allow apartments and other types of housing in all residential areas?
Yes.
7) What kinds of housing would you like to see in communities that currently have exclusionary zoning?
All of the above.
8) Do you support “by right” permitting, where cities must make clear, objective zoning and building standards, thus allowing developers following these rules to build new projects without delay?
Yes
9) How would you increase funding for Affordable Housing?
While funding is always an issue, there are some creative ideas being discussed, such as minor fees on parking garage spaces for temporary users (e.g., a $1-2 charge added to a SpotHero, etc.)
10) The Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act (AHPAA) requires every Illinois municipality whose housing stock is less than 10% affordable to develop plans to increase the amount of affordable housing in the community and allows certain groups to file appeals when affordable housing developer’s proposal to build new affordable housing is improperly denied by an AHPAA community. Since the law’s passage in 2003, enforcement of AHPAA has been uneven, with only 10 of 44 communities subject to the law submitting compliant plans in 2024 and no appeals filed despite affordable developments regularly collapsing in AHPAA communities.
How would you improve AHPAA’s planning and appeal processes to ensure affordable housing developers face fewer barriers when proposing and building developments in our state’s most affluent communities?
This all comes down to government oversight. I believe we need to update our statutes to include accountability measures, and then act on them.
11) Are there any particular social or affordable housing models you support and would like to emulate in Illinois? (e.g. Austrian Social Housing, Montgomery County, etc.)
I am open to any and everything that works, knowing different communities have different needs. I am also deeply skeptical of segregated housing, so I want to be sure affordable housing is integrated as much as possible with market rate housing to create seamless communities.
12) What are common-sense tenant protections you support?
Fixing crime free housing ordinances, getting rid of junk fees in the rental process, and requiring justifications and appeals for rent increases.
13) Are there any active tenant protection laws in Illinois that you believe are not being properly enforced? How would you change this?
I am confident there are many, though some may be harder to prove than others. I would, as I always do, work with the advocates and experts on how best to protect tenants without causing inadvertent harm.
