An overwhelming majority of Illinois voters believe the state’s housing crisis is deepening, with more than a third reporting they considered moving out of state because of rising costs in the last year, according to a new poll.
The Illinois Realtors® group released its latest survey Tuesday, timed to coincide with Gov. JB Pritzker’s address to members in Springfield, IL, where the Democrat outlined his ambitious plan to tackle housing costs.
“The national housing crisis feels more acute in Illinois,” Pritzker said. “Too many people are locked out of the American dream, and Realtors® see this every single day now. You have motivated, qualified buyers that simply cannot find housing at a price that they can afford.”
Pritzker used the appearance at the association’s annual conference to promote his signature “Building Up IL Developments,” or BUILD, initiative aimed at loosening zoning regulations to build more multifamily homes.
The raft of proposed reforms, unveiled in Pritzker’s State of the State address in February, focuses on updating building codes to make it easier to create more types of housing, including duplexes, triplexes, four-flats, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs), throughout the state.
The plan also calls for eliminating parking mandates, standardizing impact fees and timelines for permit reviews and inspections, reducing local government permit reviews, and investing $250 million in capital funds for construction and down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
Illinoisans slam housing affordability
Meanwhile, the Illinois Realtors group released its survey of 611 prospective Illinois general election voters, finding stark concern over housing costs in the state.
Eighty-one percent of respondents said they believe the state’s housing affordability is moving in the wrong direction, and more than 32% said they have had to cut back on other expenses to keep up with rent or mortgage payment.
An additional 21% of participants revealed that they delayed relocating or buying a home due to affordability concerns. And 35% said they had considered leaving the state entirely over housing costs.
Asked about the top factors driving up housing costs, roughly 63% named property taxes—the second-highest in the nation behind New Jersey—followed by 43% who blamed investors and big developers snapping up homes, with 29% highlighting construction costs.
Not enough homes being built, local zoning rules, and permitting delays were also cited as significant factors putting upward pressure on housing costs in Illinois.
According to the poll conducted by The Decision Co. research firm, 3 of 5 respondents believe housing relief should be one of the top priorities for state leaders, potentially providing tailwinds for Pritzker’s BUILD initiative.
Notably, the Illinois Realtors survey highlights significant public support for the plan’s core pillars: 86% of voters favor allowing homeowners to build ADUs, while 65% support higher-density housing on larger residential lots.
Pritzker’s BUILD plan takes aim at red tape
What’s more, once informed of the plan’s specifics, nearly half of all respondents (49.6%) expressed support for passing the BUILD legislation.
In his address Tuesday, Pritzker stressed that the state is in a dire new of more housing, and the way to get there is to cut through red tape.
“The problem that we face, really, is a failure to create and build enough homes due in part to restrictive regulations in local districts,” said Pritzker. “And it’s often rooted in a history of housing discrimination.”
Illinois faces a current shortage of 142,000 housing units and needs to build over 225,000 more in the next five years just to keep up with demand as the state’s population grows.
In November, the state-by-state housing affordability report card from Realtor.com® gave Illinois a C due to the state’s sluggish construction activity driven by slow permitting and limited development in suburban and rural areas.
“Every real estate agent, every developer, tenant, business owner, anybody on the street, really, will tell you that supply is too low,” said Pritzker. “Interest rates are too slow coming down. Prices are too high and our people and our communities are feeling the pain of this.”
According to the governor, the idea at the heart of the BUILD initiative is to streamline permitting and reduce “unnecessary barriers” at the municipal level.
Yet, he stressed that the goal is not to abolish local zoning, but rather to add “a few more homes everywhere”—focusing on family-friendly, diverse housing options instead of massive apartment blocks.
“City by city, town by town, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block—a little more housing in each area of the state can make a world of difference,” Pritzker told his audience of agents and brokers.
Pritzker also pointed out that a housing scarcity has major economic implications for the state, as employers struggle to recruit workers because there are no affordable homes for them to live.
“It makes it harder for us as a state to attract even more businesses to a vibrant area,” he lamented.
Property taxes and budget shortfall
Matt Laricy, managing broker at Americorp Real Estate in Chicago who attended the conference in Springfield and got a chance to speak to Pritzker, says he broadly supports the slate of proposed reforms designed to reduce “dumb” bureaucracy.
“I think if you try to cut the red tape, to try to incentivize, actually build rather than restrict people from building, I think is a good thing,” Laricy told Realtor.com.
However, he points out that some of the state’s biggest issues, including skyrocketing property taxes and a projected $2.2 billion budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, go far beyond the scope of the initiative touted by Pritzker.
“One of the reasons why my wealthier clients, or a lot of my clients, are leaving is solely because they’re just sick of the lack of accountability,” said Laricy. “I don’t think anybody ever actually just looks at the budget and say, ‘how can we fix this?”‘