Link to full article on Evanston Roundtable
While changes to the city’s zoning code under Envision Evanston 2045 are shelved until at least late summer, the state legislature will consider adopting some of the project’s biggest proposals as statewide mandates through several new bills in the Illinois House of Representatives.
So far, two bills have been filed that relate to current Envision proposals:
- HB1814, aka the Missing Middle Housing Act, would require cities with at least 25,000 people to permit “middle housing developments,” defined as townhouses, two-to-four unit buildings and “cottage clusters” (pocket neighborhoods) on lots of at least 5,000 square feet. Envision proposes allowing at least four units in all residential districts.
- HB1843 would outlaw occupancy limits tied to familial relationships, or lack thereof, in all cities. Envision proposes repealing the city’s oft-debated but rarely-enforced “three-unrelated rule,” which outlaws more than three unrelated people living in the same unit.
Two other bills, HB1709 and HB1813, take different approaches to allow the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) statewide. Evanston’s City Council voted in 2020 to allow one ADU each on all residential lots as accessories to a larger main residence.
The proposals to legalize middle housing and ADUs are supported by Abundant Housing Illinois (AHIL), the Chicago-based chapter of national advocacy group YIMBY Action. Ben Wolfenstein, AHIL’s state legislative lead, said the group primarily advocates for “more housing in order to bring housing costs down.”
“At our core, we are an anti-displacement organization,” Wolfenstein said Monday. “And in our view, the main reason people get displaced is because there’s not enough homes in the places where people most want to live.”
Wolfenstein also confirmed AHIL’s policy agenda includes a forthcoming proposal to eliminate parking space minimums around high-frequency transit stops, like those on the CTA Purple Line, and said the group hasn’t yet nailed down exact details and versions of each proposal they will support advancing in the statehouse. Envision proposes replacing numeric parking requirements with case-by-case determinations of developments’ transportation needs and options.
‘Spark the market‘
All three proposals supported by AHIL appear to enjoy support from the state’s executive branch, including Gov. JB Pritzker, who convened an Ad-Hoc Missing Middle Housing Solutions Advisory Committee last June.
That committee included the three proposals as “solutions for consideration” in its final report released in September, under the subheader “State-Mandated Zoning Reform.” Pritzker later signed an executive order in December creating a director of housing solutions role which will, among other duties, review the committee’s recommendations and “engage members of the Illinois General Assembly and local leaders” on any legislative changes.
“If we are going to build on this state’s record of growth and prosperity, lower costs for Illinois’ working families, and be a state that everyone can call home, we must build more housing in every Illinois community from Cairo to Chicago,” Pritzker said in a news release on the order.
Those three are among 27 total recommendations, most of which were listed in a section titled “Spark the Market” and call for financial incentives and support for market-rate developments affordable for middle-income families. The report argues Illinois’ high housing costs are chiefly an issue of supply failing to meet demand — a position which is cited as often as it’s criticized in local discourse over Envision Evanston.
Wolfenstein told the RoundTable “the science is clear” across housing and economic experts that increasing supply will help ease prices, and said denying this “is to deny empirical evidence.” However, he added, it’s not the only solution needed.
“We are also looking at increasing the amount of money that goes into subsidized affordable housing, lowering barriers to construction of subsidized affordable housing so there’s more of it,” he said. “The market is never going to solve 100% of housing issues, but it can solve a vast majority of them.”
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss made a similar argument in a December interviewwith the RoundTable, saying the city’s zoning code should have “rules that maximize the odds of the outcome that we want” from the private market, after which other policy tools can fill the gap. Those tools could include the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, Affordable Housing Fund, Putting Assets to Work plan and the forthcoming Strategic Housing Plan, which is set to include anti-displacement measures.
Local vs. state control
These proposals are likely to face opposition from some local governments, and not just for their substance: since zoning is primarily a local power, all four introduced bills include language that prevents “home rule” cities from contradicting them.
Home rule is a constitutional status granted to all cities with at least 25,000 people that allows local law to supersede state law unless the latter specifically limits home rule powers. The Illinois Municipal League, which lobbies on behalf of city governments in Springfield, lists “Promote and Preserve Home Rule Authority” as one of its core values for 2025.
Wolfenstein said he expects pushback on their policy agenda, but said he believes some mayors “would be open to letting the state” adopt the changes in lieu of working through more concentrated opposition locally. He added that cities would still be able to control and direct development through their own comprehensive plans.
“They can decide how they want to grow, and where they want to grow, and the types of development they want, even if there’s a minimum that the state says that you at least have to allow,” he said. “So you would be able to kind of direct that in a comprehensive plan for growth, and that’s not being eliminated.”
Envision effort on public break
Asked for his thoughts on Envision Evanston, Wolfenstein said AHIL “commends the courage of Mayor Biss” in pursuing similar zoning changes: “There are very few mayors in blue cities who seem to be willing to address it the way he has, and it’s really inspiring to see.”
Envision Evanston is effectively on a public break at this time, as the Land Use Commission voted on Jan. 29 to postpone meeting again until Feb. 26 to allow city staff and at least some consultants to prepare a revised second draft of the comprehensive plan. No recommendation vote will be taken at that meeting.
City Council previously voted on Jan. 13 to decouple the plan from the proposed zoning code, and delay considering the latter until the late summer or early fall, well after the city’s local elections on April 1 and the beginning of the next City Council term on May 12.