Pritzker’s affordable housing plan at odds with local governments

Gov. JB Pritzker wants to make it easier to build affordable housing in the state.

His Building Up Illinois Developments (BUILD) plan would clear the way for duplexes and apartments by essentially ignoring local zoning laws and speeding up the review and inspection process for housing permits. This isn’t sitting well with the Illinois Municipal League that represents local governments. They don’t want to give up local control. The organization proposes creating a housing incentive fund that can provide access to grants to develop this kind of housing. Another idea would be to make it easier to demolish blighted property and giving a sales tax exemption for materials used to build these affordable housing projects. Those are some of the points of a larger proposal. It’s estimated Illinois has a shortage of 200,000 affordable housing units.

How fair is this proposal from local governments to promote affordable housing while maintaining local control from the state?

Host Jim Niedelman got into the issues with Iowa Democratic party chair Rita Hart and former Rock Island County Republican party chair Drue Mielke.

“This should not be a ‘one-size-fits-all,'” Mielke said. “This looks like something that’s tailored for Chicago, and so be it.”

“Housing itself is an issue for all of us,” Hart said. “The housing issue in general is something that we all have got to pay attention to.”

To hear more, click on the video above.

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