By Olivia Olander | Chicago Tribune
Illinois will not broadly allow multiunit housing on single-family residential lots, at least for now, after a package of housing ideas championed by Gov. JB Pritzker failed to pass during the General Assembly’s spring session.
Faced with concerns about usurping local control of zoning issues related to housing, the governor’s office and its allies this weekend punted on the plans, which were among the governor’s most ambitious policy proposals this year, after they couldn’t round up the necessary support among lawmakers.
“I’m going to continue to fight for it, because we need more housing in the state,” Pritzker said at a post-session news conference in his ceremonial Capitol office Monday. He noted that some of his biggest legislative goals have taken longer than a year to come to fruition, including his school cellphone ban, which the General Assembly passed over the weekend.
Still, deferring negotiations over increasing so-called middle housing across the state to a later date is a mark against the governor’s record in Springfield this election-year spring session — one that will likely be remembered most vividly for the legislature’s inability to pass a Bears stadium deal.
Despite the housing package being presented in a year when Democrats have sought to prove they’re the party of affordability ahead of the November midterm elections, Pritzker indicated he didn’t see its failure as a political liability. The plan showed voters his priorities, he suggested, even if they couldn’t be enacted.
“Are you kidding me? I think — the question is, do you want to elect somebody who’s actually for building more housing, or somebody who doesn’t have any plan at all?” Pritzker said when asked about the politics of the housing issue.
The governor is up for reelection to a third term this fall, in a race against former state lawmaker Darren Bailey, the long-shot Republican candidate. On social media Sunday, Bailey railed against Pritzker’s so-called BUILD Illinois plan as a “full-scale assault on Illinois suburbs.”
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Related: “Why McHenry County officials could ask voters for home rule powers,” “South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie provides an update of Pritzker’s proposed BUILD Act,” “Village of Barrington President shares perspectives on Pritzker’s BUILD plans,” “(Ignoring public opinion) Pritzker says of BUILD Plan for homes would not cost taxpayers,” “Gov. JB Pritzker’s ambitious housing plan for Illinois: More four-flats, looser rules,” “Pritzker to propose statewide zoning laws to spur homebuilding, limit local control,” “McLaughlin’s press conference video recording regarding Pritzker’s proposed municipal zoning powers grab posted,” “‘It’s just a bad idea’: Suburban officials oppose Pritzker’s plan to reduce local control over residential It’s just zoning”
