Illinois Housing Bill Would Force Towns to Accept Multiunit Buildings and Backyard Homes

Gov. Pritzker Pushes Statewide Zoning Reform as Housing Shortage Deepens

Gov. JB Pritzker is pushing a sweeping package of housing bills that would force Illinois towns and villages to allow multiunit developments on residential lots and legalize backyard homes across the state. The plan, called BUILD, comes as Illinois faces a shortage of about 142,000 housing units.

The proposal would preempt local zoning laws in favor of statewide rules that permit four units on residential lots larger than 2,500 square feet, six units on lots larger than 5,000 square feet, and eight units on lots bigger than 7,500 square feet. A standard Chicago residential lot, which is long and narrow at 25 feet by 125 feet, would qualify for four units under the plan.

The package would also legalize accessory dwelling units, also known as granny flats or ADUs, on all residentially zoned lots without additional restrictions beyond those required for single-family homes. Minimum parking requirements would be reduced to cut costs. Under the proposal, local governments could not require more than half a parking space per multifamily unit or one space per single-family home, or any parking at all for dwellings under 1,500 square feet.

Illinois faces a shortage of about 142,000 housing units and would need to build 227,000 units over five years to keep pace with demand, according to a joint study published last year by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Rent increases in Chicago are outpacing national trends. While it is known for relative affordability compared with the largest coastal cities in the United States, Chicago had the sixth-fastest year-over-year rent growth in the country as of last month, even as rents fell nationally, according to Apartment List.

The median list prices for homes statewide climbed 26 percent from June 2019 to June 2024, to $340,000, according to a state advisory committee on so-called missing middle housing. The same committee also found that nationwide housing supply had not recovered to prepandemic levels by 2024 and that Illinois supply had decreased more and rebounded more slowly than national trends over the five years leading up to June 2024.

Pritzker told real estate agents in Springfield on Tuesday that the problem the state faces is a failure to create and build enough homes due in part to restrictive regulations in local jurisdictions. And he pushed back on local criticism.

Don't let anyone tell you that this is some kind of radical removal of local zoning, Pritzker said. That is not what this is. It is literally about just adding a few more homes everywhere in the state. We're not talking about putting a 100-unit building into a small, ranch-style housing area or neighborhood.

The package reads like a wish list come true to some pro-housing advocates and housing developers. But it prompted an immediate outcry from the Illinois Municipal League, which called the bills a broad preemption of local governments authority over their own communities.

Illinois Municipal League CEO Brad Cole said in an email to The Real Deal that the group had invited Pritzker to its lobbying day on April 29, but he has not yet accepted.

Our members the local elected officials who see and hear from their constituents in person, every day, across the state obviously have a different opinion on the proposal and remain opposed to the plan, Cole said.

Quincy City Council voted unanimously to oppose the state housing plan. Quincy resident and landlord Conlon Carabine spoke in opposition at the city council meeting.

When the state imposes such reform, for lack of a better term, there are going to be nuances there that do not fit our community or other communities that would be impacted by such legislation, Carabine said. In other words, zoning that works for one community would not necessarily work for another. It's a very bad precedent for the state to get involved in zoning, something that is traditionally a community responsibility.

Quincy City Planning and Development Director Jason Parrott said the BUILD preemptions have been filed in seven different pieces of legislation for consideration by the General Assembly. This includes a House bill HB 5626: Housing Omnibus and six Senate bills.

There is an omnibus bill in the house that covers everything, then there are individual pieces of legislation in the Senate that cover each individual item for it, Parrott said. That way, when the governor dedicates his state of the state address to this issue, he is anticipating some of, if not all of, this passing, but they're setting up paths to where it can all come in one bill or individual bills if some catch opposition.

Parrott outlined SB 4060: Middle Housing, which he said would have the greatest impact on Quincy out of the six Senate bills up for consideration.

What this legislation says is if you have a single-family residential lot and it is large enough, it could have up to eight units on that lot, Parrott said. There would be no oversight and such from the city council. For instance, if someone now wants to add a triplex into a single-family residential or duplex, it would go before the planning commission, there would be a public hearing neighbors would have a chance to come in and comment on it then it would come to this board, you would be able to consider it and make a decision if you would like to approve or not. If this bill were to pass, it would be approved on the spot for whatever units, as long as it met the size requirements, which is really anything more than a 7,500 square foot lot. If you think about our R1A zoning, those lots are a minimum of 10,000 square feet, so all of R1A, as long as they meet our current code, could have up to eight units on a single-family lot.

A state poll commissioned by the Illinois REALTORS found that 85 percent of likely Illinois voters supported legalizing accessory dwelling units and 65 percent supported allowing the construction of modest duplexes, triplexes, or four-unit homes on larger residential lots.

However, there are some warning signs for supporters. When asked to identify up to three factors most responsible for high housing costs, the runaway winner was local property taxes at 63 percent. The next closest was investors buying up homes at 43 percent. Only 20 percent identified lack of housing construction, 15 percent local zoning restrictions and 13 percent red tape as major culprits driving up costs.

When told that the plan could mean more crowding, more traffic, and more strain on parking and schools without the funding to handle it, 45 percent were less likely to support the plan versus 18 percent more likely to support it. And when told it's a one-size-fits-all approach that's really a way for Springfield politicians to override local decisions, 39 percent are less likely to support versus 21 percent who are more likely.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch also addressed the realtors crowd in Springfield, putting the state housing shortage in economic terms. He said lack of available housing has cost Illinois more than $10 billion in the last five years. Research from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found the state lost about $16 billion in economic output because of the housing shortage from 2008 to 2025.

We need a BUILD plan, yes, but we need a BUILD plan that works with communities, not around them, Welch said. We need a BUILD plan that respects local voices while also recognizing that this crisis is bigger than any one town, any one county, and any one region.

The BUILD plan has not moved yet in either the House or Senate and is not expected to pass ahead of each chamber's self-imposed deadlines to move bills across the rotunda. State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, the lead sponsor of the legislation in the House, confirmed that stakeholders are still negotiating.

Jeff Baker, the CEO of the Illinois REALTORS, told Capitol News Illinois that the group is currently focused on educating legislators and municipal leaders about the plan and to confront some of the misrepresentation and misinformation that's out there.

I think that there are some efforts underway to simply scare cities and municipalities into just saying no efforts that suggest that the state is trying to take away all zoning authority for municipalities, Baker said. That's not happening. So we need to push back on that message.