Illinois REALTORS targets local barriers to building more housing

Illinois’ largest real estate trade group had a policy reform plan to spur more affordable housing, ready to roll out in January. Then the governor unveiled his own, larger housing package, and the group put its plan on hold to help him fight for it.Now that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Building Up Illinois Developments plan has stalled in the legislature, Illinois REALTORS is dusting off its own approach and taking it directly to local governments.Illinois’ housing shortage is severe enough to rank it among the weakest in new-home development in the country. States from California to Florida have already moved to force more building by overriding local zoning control, and Illinois REALTORS wants its own answer in place before Springfield tries again.The Illinois Housing Supply Accelerator Program asks local officials, builders, lenders and community leaders to form working groups. Their job: find and fix local barriers to building homes faster.CEO Jeff Baker told HousingWire TBD that the program’s roots run deeper than this year’s legislative fight. “Illinois’ housing supply crisis is not a 2026 problem,” Baker said. “We have noted it even as far back as the beginning of COVID, when inter...