This ordinance is exciting for so many reasons: it will create housing that is deeply and permanently affordable, environmentally sustainable, and governed by the people who will actually live in it!
When it comes to addressing the roots of our housing crisis, community control is key. Everyday people should be the ones deciding what our homes and communities look like, not corporate landlords or banks or private developers.
In Chicago, the ordinance will establish a green social housing developer that will be governed by a board of city staff and community members, and each new development will have a tenant governance committee. That means residents can act together to raise concerns, make recommendations, and even request reviews of their property managers.
For now, the next step is to get the developer up and running, and ensure that its implementation aligns with our vision for social housing.
If you want to learn more, you can explore these basic principles of social housing, read lessons from our learning trip to Vienna and Berlin, and watch me explain social housing with Legos.
This new ordinance is a powerful display of how we can put people, not profit, at the center of our housing system — in Chicago, and across the country!
