February Happy Hour 🥂
Save the date for February 27th at 6:00 pm for our next abundant housing happy hour! Exact details TBD, but we plan to meet in Uptown or Edgewater given the ongoing efforts to rezone Broadway for more homes.
Old Town Housing Win! 🥳
In his February 3rd newsletter, Alderman Brian Hopkins announced his support for a compromise deal with developer Fern Hill regarding the proposed development at 1600 N La Salle. The compromise deal allows Old Town's first new high rise in decades to proceed, meaning that the wealthy neighborhood will soon have 349 (70 affordable) new homes!
While the unit count was decreased from the 500 homes originally proposed, the number of three- and four-bedroom units increased significantly, leading to the building's total habitable area being similar to what was originally proposed.
The surest sign that this approval should be considered a major win for Abundant Housing Illinois is the response to the news from the project's opponents, who describe the 151-unit reduction as "breadcrumbs used to mislead and confuse the public" and who continue to strongly oppose the height of the building. As we note in our press release, "Opponents of this project have shown a lack of willingness to engage in good faith with genuine community input, as seen in their constantly shifting goalposts around appropriate height and density, and their opposition to this proposed version, even as Alderman Hopkins has worked to broker a compromise meeting their demands."
We would like to thank Alderman Hopkins for approving this critical project, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for policies that enable the construction of as much housing as is needed to end our city’s shortage.
On a related note, our new website has a "Press" page where you find all of our press releases, members' op-eds, letters to the editor, podcasts, etc! We hope that this will serve as a handy resource for our members and for elected officials. Please let us know if we missed anything and we'll get it added!
Massive Marcey Turnout! 💪
Joseph Miscimarra delivered a powerful statement on behalf of Abundant Housing Illinois at the 1840 North Marcey meeting
We didn't have an official January happy hour, but we improvised and rallied our largest in-person community meeting turnout ever! Over 80 supporters of abundant housing braved the cold to speak in support of Sterling Bay's 615 homes proposed for 1840 North Marcey in Lincoln Park. Abundant Housing IL member Joseph presented on behalf of our organization and multiple members were quoted in a subsequent Tribune article on the development. The Sun-Times even declared that "Sterling Bay's project gets community support, despite Alderman's pushback." Talk about changing the narrative!
Additionally, former Department of Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara showed up in person to support the project, sending a clear signal that 1840 North Marcey has high potential to set a new pro-housing precedent in Chicago.
Ald. Waguespack finds himself in a tough position here. Will he continue to oppose new housing that checks all the boxes of the Connected Communities Ordinance that he voted for, or will he strike a more collaborative pose in light of this large outpouring of support? Stay tuned! 🍿
Four-flats panel on March 11th! 🏘️
On March 11th at 6pm, we are co-hosting a panel featuring missing middle housing developers who specialize in 2-4 flats! Attendees will learn what challenges these developers face when constructing or rehabilitating these buildings and what policy changes would make it easier to build more 2-4 flats in Chicago.
The event is co-hosted by Abundant Housing Illinois, CNU Chicago, and Strong Towns Chicago. Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) has kindly offered to host the panel at their office in the Loop. We hope to see you there!
State Legislation Update
Last week, we took important steps towards pre-empting local control of exclusionary single-family zoning with the introduction of multiple bills.
HB3256/SB2352, the People Over Parking Act, will eliminate parking mandates within 0.5 miles of a transit stop with peak intervals of 15 minutes or less.
HB3552, the Local Accessory Dwelling Unit Act, will legalize ADUs statewide.
But that's not all! Our members have been hard-at-work meeting with General Assembly members and organizing a coalition of statewide organizations to rally support for our pro-housing agenda in 2025, which will include these bills and a few others. Keep an eye out for action alerts from us in the coming months to help push critical state-level housing bills across the finish line!
Want to help out with state legislation? Let us know!
Speaking of state legislation, Abundant Housing IL lead Ben Wolfenstein gave a great interview to the Evanston RoundTable on the state housing bills we are supporting! In the article, parallels are drawn between the proposed legislation and elements of the Envision Evanston proposals.
“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.”
Read about the state housing bills
The Passing of Donald Shoup
Abundant Housing Illinois is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of UCLA Professor Donald Shoup. Professor Shoup, known to some as the Shoup Dogg or the guru of parking, was and will remain a giant figure in the history of how cities are built. His revolutionary book The High Cost Of Free Parking took a boring and overlooked subject and turned it into one of the most exciting policy reform issues in cities today.
Professor Shoup will always loom over our efforts in Chicago and Illinois. We will continue to work to reform bad parking policy in order to create Illinois cities designed for people first, not cars. Abundant Housing Illinois is working to eliminate unnecessary parking mandates in Chicago, Evanston, and across the state with the People Over Parking Act, a name that has its roots in Professor Shoup’s lectures and interviews. We hope Professor Shoup would be proud of the work we are doing, and we are grateful to him for all that he has done for housing affordability, walkability, and sustainability.