Tag:Chicago
Chicago’s Bold New Vision: Green Social Housing for a Sustainable, Equitable Future
Last week, Chicago City Council committees on Housing and Finance convened for negotiations and discussions on a monumental—and markedly contentious—green social housing plan. This comes nearly two months after Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Department of Housing introduced an enabling ordinance in the Chicago City Council, allowing the City to establish an independent nonprofit with the authority to serve as the Green Social Housing (GSH) developer. The GSH model tackles both housing insecurity and climate change head-on by developing permanently affordable, energy-efficient homes in every community. Spearheaded by the Chicago Department of Housing and the Illinois Green New Deal coalition, this initiative is poised to reshape how housing is built, owned, and lived in across the city.
Six Years Later – Is the Chicago Police Consent Decree Working?
Six years ago, the City of Chicago (the City) entered into a consent decree establishing a framework for sweeping reform of the policies and operations of the Chicago Police Department and the City. This major reform effort was initiated after Chicago police officers shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014. Chicago’s consent decree is aimed at addressing concerns in several areas, especially police accountability and officer misconduct. Oversight is done by the Independent Monitoring Team, which reviews and assesses the City’s compliance. After almost six and a half years, the City is nowhere close to fulfilling the requirements. Even worse, Chicagoans have little faith that the City will ever reach full compliance.
Chicago’s Low-Income Housing Trust Fund at a Crossroads: Leadership, Equity, and an Uncertain Future
On February 11, the Chicago City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate delayed approval of the appointment of eight board members to oversee the city’s low-income housing trust fund. The vote was postponed due to concerns about the lack of Black representation on the board and among the appointees, particularly from the South and West sides. For decades, Chicago has grappled with the challenge of providing affordable housing to its poorest residents. The Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund (“Trust Fund”), established in 1987, has been a crucial force in addressing this need. The Trust Fund was created through a City Council ordinance and supports low-income residents—those earning at or below 50% of the city’s median income—by funding rental subsidies and housing programs.
Chicago’s One System Initiative: Merging the Homelessness and Forced Migration Response Services
Since August 2022, Chicago has seen a record influx of new arrivals, with nearly 47,000 individuals seeking asylum in Illinois from the southern U.S. border. In response to this surge of new Chicagoans, the city and state launched the One System Initiative, an ambitious effort to integrate the systems serving Chicagoans experiencing homelessness and new arrivals. By aligning resources and streamlining services, the initiative aims to enhance the city’s overall homeless response system. Such integration must also comply with various federal, state, and local regulations concerning eligibility requirements, funding restrictions, and documentation demands.
Can Cutting Red Tape Improve Chicago’s Affordable Housing Crisis?
On April 5th, 2024, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson published the Cut the Tape Report as part of his administration’s focus on confronting Chicago’s affordable housing shortage. The report marks the completion of the first step in the process put in place by Mayor Johnson’s Executive Order 2023-21. The order aimed to identify inefficiencies and redundancies in the city’s administrative processes to shorten Chicago’s residential and commercial development timelines. The report resulted from collaboration between fourteen city departments, numerous external stakeholders, and six peer cities, identifying over 100 recommendations for improvements to the development process.
Streamlining Regulatory Compliance in Chicago’s Real Estate Development
In December 2023, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson took a significant step toward revolutionizing the city’s real estate development process by signing Executive Order No. 2023-21. This directive tasked 14 city departments with identifying the key barriers that complicate housing and commercial development that subsequently lead to delays, increased costs, and uncertainty. The goal was to find solutions to accelerate the approval processes, reduce regulatory redundancies, and streamline compliance with city, state, and federal regulations, ultimately making Chicago’s real estate development process more efficient and predictable.
Chicago Aims to Abolish Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Sexual harassment in the workplace is prohibited in Chicago. To further instill this message, in April 2022, Mayor Lightfoot and the Commission on Human Relations amended the sexual harassment laws (Human Rights Ordinance) to provide sharpened tools to employers and employees for preventing sexual harassment. These amendments strengthened the existing laws in strictly enforcing zero tolerance of violence and harassment in the workplace through written employment policies, posters, and training. Starting July 1, 2022, strict compliance with these amendments became the standard throughout Chicago.
Big-Name Company Exodus in Illinois: How Companies Leaving Illinois Affects the State and Its Future Outlook
Several big-name companies, corporations with recognizable names, headquartered in Illinois are exiting the state in mass numbers for a variety of reasons. This blog discusses the impacts and outlook for Illinois as this corporation exodus affects the state’s revenue streams. It also looks at how lawmakers, in-house lawyers, and internal compliance teams can keep companies in Illinois.
Earlier this summer, Ken Griffin, CEO of Chicago’s largest hedge fund, Citadel, announced that it is moving the firm’s headquarters to Miami. This news follows the departure of several other companies that were headquartered in Chicago like Boeing, Caterpillar, and grocery stores like Aldi.
The State of the Equal Pay Act in Illinois and Across the Country
In the almost sixty years since the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, women and people of color are still deprived of wages equal to their male and white coworkers. Illinois has recently made strides to level the playing field by passing amendments to their Equal Pay Act requiring large companies to disclose demographic data on their employees and sign compliance statements regarding pay discrimination. Going forward, Chicago is considering requiring employers to post salary ranges on their job postings, while the Biden Administration has been fighting to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. The future of equal wages in America depends on the results of these crucial legislative battles.
Chicago Legalizes Accessory Dwelling Units in Effort to Increase Affordable Housing Supply
Starting May 1, 2021, Accessory Dwelling Units (“ADUs”) will be legalized in five pilot areas around the city of Chicago. Chicago faces a declining population, a slow homebuilding pace, and an affordable housing gap of approximately 116,000 units. These ADUs are intended to increase access to affordable housing, but the ordinance isn’t expected to make a large impact on Chicago’s affordable housing gap.