rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/ask-sens-harmon-hunter-to-fix-sb-640?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-ask-sens-harmon-hunter-to-fix-sb-640' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> YIMBY Action https://actionnetwork.org/groups/yimby https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/letters/photos/000/448/518/normal/Legalize_Middle_Housing_(1500_x_600_px)_(1).png Illinois Senate Bill SB640, as amended, is intended to help address Illinois’ housing shortage by legalizing more “missing middle” housing — smaller multifamily homes like duplexes, fourplexes, and courtyard apartments. But two provisions added to the latest version of the bill could seriously weaken its impact and make it harder to build new homes in Chicago and across the state. While these provisions are well intended, they could unintentionally make it more difficult to build the kinds of homes Illinois urgently needs. What’s the problem? Section 11-13.1-50 (“Protection of Existing Small Rental Housing”) could give local governments broad authority to block infill middle housing types like duplexes and townhomes by expanding preservation districts across an entire municipality that adds unfeasible requirements on infill housing, undermining the bill’s goal of allowing more homes to be built. Section 11-13.1-40 (“Middle Income Affordability”) would make smaller multifamily projects financially impossible to build by adding requirements that many projects under 10 units cannot realistically support. In practice, this will function like a de facto ban on missing middle housing and would especially hurt small-scale, local, and minority builders and tradespeople. What activists need to do: We’re asking constituents of the bill’s sponsoring senator and the Senate President to urge them to remove these two provisions, so Illinois can pass a strong, workable middle housing bill that actually expands housing opportunities statewide. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ask-sens-harmon-hunter-to-fix-sb-640