Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the “Cut the Tape” report, revealing plans to streamline construction and approval processes for affordable housing development. The initiative aims to foster economic growth and address housing needs by accelerating residential and commercial projects.
The report includes over 100 recommendations, focusing on speeding up approval processes, enabling development in more areas, and fostering collaboration between public, private, and philanthropic stakeholders. Mayor Johnson emphasizes the importance of reducing bureaucratic red tape and highlights strategic priorities outlined in the report. The plan emphasized the Mayor’s initiative to convert empty office space into residential properties.
North Union megadevelopment. Rendering by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
“Our big ideas in the city really require us to have a process that is smooth and comparable to those actually want to do business in Chicago,” said Johnson.
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Wouldn’t trust this mayor any farther than one could throw him.
I figured there would be a hitch to this. And the hitch is, it has to be an “affordable” project. What does that mean? More forced subsidized housing, which the Left which has taken over Chicago’s leadership has such a hard on for?
Does that mean that market rate development (small apartment buildings, condo buildings, homes, midrises, high rises, etc) that make up a majority of the housing that Chicago needs will continue to be held up by red tape?
Sounds like more of the same, or even worse. More bottlenecking of development, not less, as far as I can see. Sigh…….
So, a politician who voiced/campaigned support for an initiative to create more affordable housing through a real-estate tax gets turned down and jeered by those who would never see transactions at such rates. (Was an ill-conceived plan that should not have been pursued in such a sloppy manner)
Then, such politician accepts the defeat and comes back with a plan that makes sensical development much more feasible while not overburdening future developers. (Plenty of great points for good urban design)
Wanting to avoid all the extra wasted time of dumb bureaucratic processes, he’s offering a plan that greenlights new development, but it’s still not good enough. Last time I checked, it wasn’t the poors who were panicking at community meetings about how new development would destroy the fabric of Chicago. No one is forcing developers to go along with his agenda; only work with such an agenda if they want their projects to move along faster.
Are you mad at a politician offering a plan that works with developers to keep affordable housing in desirable areas or the thought of lower-income individuals walking amongst the rest?
It would be cool to cut the red tape for most things. Make it a developers free for all. But then, will you also complain when the architecture isn’t good enough?
Yeah I don’t get the hate. It might not be perfect, and Johnson wasn’t my first choice, but I like that he seems open to change and learning. If he ends up being a reformer I’ll take the victory. His background in education seems to keep his mind open.
It’s not hate – it’s called pointing out his incompetency. He was a failed teacher – failed county board member any now our failed mayjor.
nice job Chicago.
Interesting fact.. check for yourself.. look up any new construction rental building in Chicago and see if they have those affordable units available.. most likely they do, how? You’d think they’d be gone the moment they posted ? Nope, because majority of people who fall into this income threshold can’t prove their income with tax returns or paystubs or can’t pass background and credit checks …therefore can’t rent those units . The concept is pretty on paper but just like with other of his initiatives- doest’t quite work, but what else do you expect from a guy who doesn’t pay his utility bills ?
Bro you’re gonna have to cite your sources and provide statistics to make that huge of a statement. The majority of them can’t prove income? I need to see the data on that for sure. Open to being wrong but not without the stats.
Lol I was searching for ARO units last year. I called around 30 places before I found a single one that actually had units available (it was extremely new construction and units had just gone on the market for preleasing).
Lot’s of landlord websites will say they have units available but when you call, they won’t. So ya, I can say firsthand there is a MASSIVE demand for these units and they really do help a lot of people (even though I ended up not getting one).
I don’t remember you providing your sources. Can you please do that?
Actually it’s pretty funny.. he himself probably would not qualify for those units due to his poor credit score(not paying utility bills for years would most definitely result in that) 😂🤣
Yeah and pritzker has his toilet scandal. They all have something you can pick on if you want. It’s America.
Between the aldermen, who don’t want to see their power trimmed, and the community groups who don’t want to see their power trimmed, and the trade unions who don’t want modernized building codes, and the over-all goo-goo do-gooders who think developers are evil and time should stand still, this will all just slip beneath the waves.
I hope this works. The devil will be in the details but at least the mayor recognizes that there is a problem and he is attempting to propose solutions. If it doesn’t work, then at least he can go back and revisit the issue to see what does work and what doesn’t and propose changes to policy. What definitely won’t work is sitting on the sidelines complaining about the policy with no evidence other than vibes. I’d rather see the mayor try, fail, and pivot to something that works than listen to naysayers and do nothing. We’ve had too much of that lately.
Loser! Don’t think he got the stone tablet: Alderman rule and “public housing” by any name is DEAD!
Keep up the optimism y’all 🤣 I love how this is just purely a good news story – no other way to spin it. Somebody trying to do something to help build more housing faster. And everyone in the comments is like 🤬😡🤬😡 “I didn’t vote for this guy so therefore he can’t do anything good even if I agree with it” 😡🤬😡🤬
It’s something, which is better than nothing. I think BJ has realized building our way out of this financial mess is the only path forward.
Mayor Johnson may well seem open to change and learning. But until he learns to answer questions that he might prefer left unanswered especially regarding spending our taxpayer dollars, he can expect a no vote for $1,000,000 initiatives to increase housing – no matter how nice they may appear.
I wish the article elaborated more on some of the details. For example, it mentions affordable units, but says the rules will cover both residential and commercial construction. While there is a concept of affordable commercial spaces, I don’t believe anyone in Chicago has been using that concept. So, does this mean the rules would make all smaller-scale developments more efficient? I support any improvements in the processes, but I’d like to know more!