Ben Wolfenstein

Our 2026 election questionnaires are almost finalized! 🗳️

If you are running for Cook County Board of Commissioners, Cook County Assessor, State Representative, State Senator, Congress, or Senate and you want to receive our questionnaire, please email us!

hello@abundanthousingillinois.org

Hey look it's me and Avery! Oh yeah, and the event I helped put on last weekend.

Park(ing) Day is today!! Come hang with us in some car-free parking spaces 😌

So clearly I was hacked

Did you know? 805 people of only 4 precincts voted in 2006 to downzone the west side of Broadway to BLOCK any buildings more than 4 stories.

805 out of ~60K 48th ward residents. A whopping 1.3%.

Now they're back as "ERRD." Don't fall for it! Upzone Broadway in #Edgewater #Uptown #Chicago.

PARK(ing) Day 2025: A Celebration of Community and Urban Transformation Join PARK(ing) Day on 9/20! We're turning parking lots at Demo & Dovetail breweries into parks w/ music, food & urbanist fun

Park(ing) Day 2025 is only one week away! We can’t wait to see all of you at Demo & Dovetail breweries on September 20th. 😊

www.eventbrite.com/e/parking-da...

It's unfortunate that legacy housing stock has to start as new construction, but alas, that's how the linear passage of time works

photo of the parking lot with many empty parking stalls, surrounded by high-rise residential buildings

an oft-empty surface parking lot a block away from a 24-hour subway station and six bus routes

#landvaluetax

Parking Day is coming up in Chicago September 20th! www.eventbrite.com/e/parking-da...

Image showing the Oak Forest train station with text describing how parking mandates have been eliminated.

🚨 HOUSING WIN 🚨

On August 26th, Oak Forest, Illinois eliminated parking mandates citywide!

This important reform will lower construction costs, encourage adaptive reuse of existing buildings, and enable the development of new, walkable communities. 🏘️

Long story short: ADUs are good. More housing is good. Chicago can (and should) grow.

Help us make that happen on 9/25!

ACTION 3: sign this petition!

The more the merrier. Please share on social media and share with friends who care about housing affordability. t.co/J96vncjpss

Picture of Bennett Lawson

As we've mentioned in recent weeks, l've introduced an ordinance to make it legal citywide to convert basements and attics into housing units and build coach houses - initiatives that have been already permitted in much of Lakeview for five years under a pilot program. These 'Accessory Dwelling Units' (ADUs) give homeowners another stream of income, expand housing supply to help lower rents, and allow older residents to age in place with their families— all while preserving the character of our streets, since they're built in existing spaces or in the rear. My proposed ordinance will come up for a vote at the September City Council meeting. Now, I am asking for your help: residents who have stories to tell of living in or building basement/attic units or coach houses, please reach out to our office here so we can highlight these real-life examples for my City Council colleagues.

ACTION 2: tell your ADU story to city council.

Alderman Bennett Lawson (who introduced the main ordinance to lift the ADU ban) is collecting stories to tell the rest of city council.

Email your story to ward44@cityofchicago.org with the subject line “My ADU story” to help!

You can provide more information about your rationale (for example, if you want to build space for a granny flat). But you need to make sure that you sound assertive, informed, and polite.

You can also email the alderman as an alternative/additional option.

“Hello, I’d like to leave constituent feedback.

I live at ___ and I encourage the alderman to support legalizing accessory dwelling units in my neighborhood & citywide. I want more housing options for my family, and I don’t want to have to pay for a lawyer to get a zoning adjustment.”

Here’s the important part: WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

1. CALL YOUR ALDERMAN!

Use this website to find your alderman and their office number. Give them a call and tell them you want accessory dwelling units in your neighborhood. Example script below: www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...

How the Electoral College Could Tilt Further From Democrats Amid Redistricting and Population Shifts With red states growing fast, the Democratic Party will have a tough path to the White House without making more states competitive, according to a New York Times analysis.

Plus, it’s becoming very clear that Democrat states are screwing themselves over by not building more housing.

The longer IL waits to legalize ADUs, the more seats in Congress we give away to growing states like Texas. Redistricting doesn’t change your census counts! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

One more reason that Chicago should legalize ADUs: they provide more homes to people who want to move here.

This is a sanctuary city for vulnerable groups, such as immigrants and the LGBT population. But how welcoming can we be if we’re not keeping it affordable to live here?

Why are the benefits of ADUs?

-They increase housing supply, which can help prevent rising housing costs
-They allow seniors to “age in place”
-They provide flexibility for growing families
-Homeowners can rent them out for extra income

The list goes on and on.

In recent years, mayors have realized that ADUs are a good idea.

Rahm Emmanuel wanted to bring them back. Lori Lightfoot actually tried with a pilot program. Brandon Johnson is now trying to lift the ban citywide. (You probably don’t like his politics, but this is a good idea.)

Graph of Chicago’s population over time It rises from below 1 million in the 1800s to a peak near 3.5m in 1950 and then drops to 2.6m post 2000

In Chicago, they were made illegal in 1957. Existing ones were allowed to stay, but you couldn’t build new ADUs.

Why? Basically, because city council was scared of overcrowding and lack of parking for new cars.

This was a big mistake. We lost a million people since then!

A variety of ADU types: Detached Attached Interior upper level Interior lower level Above garage Garage conversion

ADUs are great. They come in a wide variety of forms—you may hear them referred to as granny flats, conversion units, garden apartments, coach houses, or casitas (among other names).

Basically, it’s a secondary residence located on the same lot as a main residence.