Holiday Happy Hour
It's been a big year for our Illinois UE chapter, and we're excited to celebrate our wins with all of you at our holiday happy hour! We will be gathering at Will's Northwoods Inn at 6 pm on Thursday, December 14th. Will's is walking distance from the Wellington Brown Line and Belmont Red/Purple Line CTA stations. We will also be collecting winter clothes to donate to our new migrant neighbors. Hope to see you there!
RSVP for the Holiday Happy Hour
Fostering Our 🌎 Podcast Feat. Chris!
UE IL Co-Lead Chris Asmar was on a podcast last month! On the episode, Chris and Fostering Our Earth podcast host Awoe delve into the topic of housing, discussing why it is challenging to build affordable housing and the characteristics of NIMBYism and YIMBYism. Chris highlights the challenges that cities face regarding housing and mobility, and describes how organizations such as the Urban Environmentalists are working to address them by expanding transportation options beyond driving, promoting sustainable communities, and advocating for more affordable housing.
Zoning Chair Letter - Momentum Grows
In last month's newsletter, we highlighted our Zoning Chair letter, in which a dozen organizations called upon Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to tackle common-sense zoning reforms that will make it easier to build housing for all Chicagoans.
However, our work did not stop once our letter was published. Thanks to the hard work of UE members Pranay and Richard, an op-ed version of our letter was published in the Sun Times on December 4th (image above). And then, on December 6th, the Tribune editorial board published an op-ed in support of allowing ADUs and three-flats citywide which specifically highlights our Zoning Chair letter. This article, which also links to our Tribune op-ed from earlier this year, was unprompted. We're glad to have caught the Tribune's attention, and appreciate their highlighting our efforts!
What does Urban Environmentalists want? Practical change. “Reforming zoning regulations can cut through red tape, lower building costs, and accelerate transit-oriented development in areas where people want to live,” - Chicago Tribune
Sun Times Op-EdTribune Article
Housing Victory Summary
As we close out 2023, we wanted to take a moment to highlight our housing impact this year. Thanks to our group's efforts, almost 600 homes have either been approved or are practically guaranteed to be approved by year's end. To put this in perspective, we have helped approve more homes in Chicago than San Francisco has permitted in total in 2023.
And, with major developments such as 1840 N Marcey and 1565 N. Clybourn Ave. in the pipeline, we could be looking at another 1,000 homes under our belt early in 2024!
2023 Housing Highlights
- 1641 N Halsted (134 homes) ✅
- 1235-37 and 1257-1301 N. Ashland Ave (40 homes) ✅
- 2907 W. Irving Park Road (45 homes) ✅
- 3327 N. Lincoln (Dinkel's) (42 homes) ✅
- 5035 N Lincoln (47 homes) ✅
- 2919 W. Lawrence (40 homes) ✅
- Damen/Irving Park/Lincoln (235 homes) 🔜
Did we miss any projects? Let us know!
Want to see more homes approved? Donate to UE today!
Migrant Housing Support Letter
Supporting stable housing for all residents, no matter how new, is integral to our mission. Therefore, we signed onto a letter led by the frontline volunteers in District 10 and 11 in conjunction with volunteers at districts across the city, calling on a pause of 60-day eviction notices to new arrivals until April 1, 2024.