Despite a flurry of legislative activity in the final week, lawmakers did not advance any of the proposals included in Governor Pritzker’s Building Up Illinois Developments (BUILD) agenda nor any of the additional housing affordability proposals put forth in the Senate. On May 26, the Senate Executive Committee held a lengthy hearing to review a slate of housing bills. The committee considered bills related to various provisions included in the BUILD agenda and other proposals related to developments on faith-based land, tenant protection and disincentives for large institutional real estate investors. Although all the amendments did move out of committee, Senators from both parties expressed skepticism about these proposals being ready to advance further without negotiations and future amendments.
Additional amendments were offered on May 29 to Senate Bill 640 (middle housing zoning), Senate Bill 643 (third-party permitting) and Senate Bill 635 (faith-based housing); however, none of these bills advanced out of the Senate over the weekend. On Sunday, the Senate did approve three measures focused on tenant rights and limiting large institutional investors. House Bill 957 (Sen. Mike Simmons) creates a statutory right of first refusal for tenants of multi-unit residential rental properties in Illinois. House Bill 4377 (Sen. Graciela Guzmán) creates the Federally Assisted Tenant Protection Act to ensure that housing providers cannot pursue policies that link rent subsidies and work requirements. House Bill 2783 (Sen. Rachel Ventura) creates the Restock the Block Act, which imposes an annual fee tied to the number of houses or multi-family buildings owned by a covered entity (institutional real estate investors). While these three bills did advance out of the Senate, no action was taken in the House.
Background:
In February, the Governor presented the Building Up Illinois Developments (BUILD) agenda, which includes proposals to aggressively preempt local zoning, in attempt to address housing supply and affordability. The Northwest Municipal Conference (NWMC) is committed to the objective of addressing housing shortages; however, the Conference encourages state lawmakers to resist top-down, one-size-fits-all efforts to preempt local land use and zoning authority.
The BUILD agenda consists of the following bills:
- HB 5626 (Rep. Kam Buckner): Housing Omnibus
- SB 4060 (Sen. Mattie Hunter): Legalizing Middle Housing
- SB 4061 (Sen. Sara Feigenholtz): Single Stair Reform
- SB 4062 (Sen. Cristina Castro): Impact Fee Modernization
- SB 4063 (Sen. Laura Ellman): Third Party Review
- SB 4064 (Sen. Javier L. Cervantes): Parking Reform
To learn more about the BUILD agenda, please visit the following resources: