Illinois REALTORS® has advocated for policies to expand housing opportunities statewide for over five years. Gov. JB Pritzker has made housing one of his top priorities this spring with his Building Up Illinois Developments, or BUILD plan.

From small towns to large cities, the BUILD plan will ease housing costs for everyone in Illinois while protecting home values and preserving neighborhood character and communities.

The BUILD plan, which if passed would go into effect Jan. 1, 2027, combines a series of bills into a single housing affordability package. In the Illinois House it is HB 5626. In the Illinois Senate, the proposals are broken into six separate bills.

Local governments could no longer outlaw modest townhomes, duplexes and other small multifamily buildings on large residential lots. This will allow teachers, nurses and other working families to afford to live closer to where they work while preserving neighborhood character. Sixty-five percent of Illinois voters support allowing these buildings on larger residential lots.

In residential districts that allow detached single-family homes, municipalities would also be required to provide residential lots of up to 2,500 square foot for a detached single family home.

It also requires cities to allow conversions of existing homes to middle housing, bars more restrictive standards than those applied to detached single-family homes, limits discretionary review, and sets default statewide standards if the municipality does not adopt conforming amendments within eight months.

Impact fees are a legitimate tool when they are administered consistently, with transparency and within the limits of Illinois statute. However, too many local governments are, at best, pushing the limits of the law and, at worst, actively discouraging homebuilding with high impact fees. SB 4062 brings transparency and consistency to impact fees which will encourage homebuilding through predictability and reasonability in fee structures.

Municipalities already authorized to levy impact fees would use a statewide DCEO formula, calculator/worksheet, cost tables, multipliers, and model ordinance. The new formula allows consideration of local factors, recognizing not every town is the same. Cities and towns could charge less than the formula result, but not more.

Illinois voters overwhelmingly support (86 percent) making it easier to build a small addition on their property so an aging parent or an adult child can live nearby. Accessory dwelling units (ADU) support is 91 percent among Democrats, 80 percent among Republicans, and 84 percent among Independents. However, the vast majority of local governments ban these types of additions despite ADUs helping families stay together and care for each other without leaving town.

SB 4071 would end the ban on ADUs:

Families who wish to build homes face a labyrinth of confusing local government reviews, deadlines, inspections and approvals. Clarifying and standardizing high quality and efficient plan review, permitting and inspection deadlines will help Illinois families and builders navigate the homebuilding process with ease.

The bill creates transparent and uniform standards for plan review, permit issuance and inspections:

Local parking requirements significantly drive up construction costs and use up scarce land. Often, the expensive, mandated parking garages sit empty in walkable neighborhoods. Commonsense reform will encourage construction of less dense, more affordable housing options for working families.

SB 4064 sets commonsense standards including:

Counties and municipalities would allow smaller multifamily residential buildings to be constructed with one stairway as the exit, provided that multiple additional safety requirements are met. Research from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows modern single-stair apartment buildings with sprinklers and other fire protections perform as safely as comparable buildings with two stairways and significantly bring down costs, making housing more affordable. Single stairway new construction would only be allowed if:

This legislation also expressly limits inconsistent home rule regulation.

States routinely set statewide standards affecting housing and land use, including building codes, accessibility requirements, and fair housing laws. Research shows restrictive local land-use regulation can limit housing supply and increase housing costs. The BUILD plan seeks to implement best standards and practices while ensuring that local governments maintain local control over most building and zoning codes, safety standards, plan approval and inspections.

Parking mandates can significantly increase development costs and limit housing supply. Peer-reviewed research finds that minimum parking requirements raise housing costs and discourage smaller units.

Evidence suggests modern single-stair apartment buildings with sprinklers and other fire protections perform as safely as comparable buildings with two stairways.

The bills do not eliminate impact fees but standardize how they are calculated and applied. Research shows high or unpredictable development fees can increase housing costs and discourage development and thus, the revenues that flow from that development.

Most housing allowed under these bills consists of small scale, incremental additions such as ADUs, duplexes, or fourplexes. Development of these housing types typically occurs gradually and depends on individual property owners or small builders rather than large developers.