Abundant Housing Illinois

Link to full article in The Chicago Tribune

The weather is getting nicer — but no amount of sunshine will thaw the zoning across Chicago’s Southwest Side, which is frozen in time.

Walk through the West Elsdon, Archer Heights or West Lawn neighborhood on any summer evening, and you’ll find a quietly vibrant community: front lawns with kids playing, sidewalks busy with workers coming home, paleteros ringing bells heard a mile away, porches alive with conversation — even home-based day care businesses caring for the next generation. Hubbard High School is already facing an overcrowding crisis. The demand for Southwest Side living is already here — and it’s growing.

These are neighborhoods of multigenerational households, strong family networks and people who want to stay in the city. They are the densest they’ve ever been, something only a few of Chicago’s 77 community areas can say — yet zoning laws still treat them like suburban holdovers.

Zoning and land use on the Southwest Side haven’t kept up with the people who live here. They restrict growth, block new housing options and prioritize cars over community. Despite clear signs of demand and density, most of these neighborhoods remain locked into low-density, single-family zoning.

In the West Lawn neighborhood, 41% of households have four or more people, yet 72% of all housing is single-family detached. Meanwhile, in the Lakeview neighborhood on the North Side, half of all households are one person, but half of the housing consists of buildings with 20 or more units. The “missing middle” couldn’t be more absent. It’s a mismatch that stifles quality of life — and it’s time for the Southwest Side to be part of Chicago’s broader planning conversation.

I’m not asking for radical transformation. I’m asking the city to let us grow in ways that reflect who we already are. Families on the Southwest Side are living in more crowded conditions — not because they want to, but because the zoning code doesn’t allow them to expand. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), two-flats and four-flats are basic forms of housing in many parts of the city. But here, they’re often illegal or heavily restricted. The result is a lack of options for extended families, working-class renters or seniors aging in place.

People want to stay — but policy is pushing them out. These neighborhoods have become a lifeline for people priced out of the North Side and the increasingly unaffordable outer Loop neighborhoods. Yet city policies — from mandatory parking minimums to outdated lot coverage rules — make it harder to build the housing we need or support the businesses that make neighborhoods thrive. There’s opportunity here, but we’re blocking it.