At Illinois REALTORS® Capitol Conference REALTOR® Day, Governor JB Pritzker and House Speaker Chris Welch spoke of the important role REALTORS have played in ensuring addressing housing issues are the top legislative priority – as most registered voters indicated in a recent poll. Pritzker and Welch said the REALTOR® voice is needed now to help secure passage of the plan.
Poll finds broad support for key parts of Pritzker’s housing plan
The statewide poll conducted for Illinois Realtors found most respondents support building smaller-scale, multi-unit housing on bigger lots and letting homeowners build accessory dwelling units, key tenets of Pritzker’s housing agenda unveiled earlier this year.
“The numbers are overwhelmingly in favor of taking action on housing, so I think for anyone who is adamantly opposed to this, the fact is that their position’s contrary to almost everybody in their communities that are struggling with high housing costs,” Illinois Realtors CEO Jeff Baker told Crain’s.
The poll’s release this week coincided with a push from Pritzker and Illinois Realtors in Springfield to promote a legislative package that supporters are touting as a way to encourage more development and boost housing affordability. The legislation includes allowing multi-unit housing in already-residential areas on lots larger than 2,500 square feet, relaxing restrictions on ADUs or “granny flats,” and other reforms that aim to streamline the development process and reduce delays.
Gov. Pritzker Highlights BUILD Plan at Illinois REALTORS Capitol Conference
Supported by Illinois REALTORS, BUILD plan would cut red tape, increase housing supply, and lower costs for families
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
SPRINGFIELD — Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined state legislators and hundreds of Illinois REALTORS to highlight the Building Up Illinois Developments (BUILD) housing package at the 2026 Capitol Conference REALTOR Day. The Governor emphasized the urgent need for new housing developments across the state, underscoring BUILD’s ambitious plan to unlock a wider range of housing options for Illinois’ working families.
“We have developers ready to build homes, REALTORS ready to sell them, and Illinoisans who need them,” said Governor JB Pritzker.
Illinois’ REALTORS understand the challenges locking prospective homebuyers out of the American dream. Limited housing supply offers few affordable options to sell to families, and Illinois will need to build over 225,000 housing units in five years to meet demand. Real estate professionals understand BUILD’s potential to help bring these critical units to the market by making it easier and more cost-effective to build housing in Illinois.
Pritzker joins forces with Illinois Realtors on statewide zoning reform, drawing ire of local officials
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker cemented a political alliance with the state’s real estate trade association — and spurned local government critics — on Tuesday when he praised the group’s housing policy activism during its annual lobbying event.
It was the first time Pritzker spoke at the Illinois Realtors’ annual Capitol Conference Realtor Day, a coup for the group that has pushed the same policies in Springfield for years. Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch also spoke at the gathering.
In front of about 800 real estate professionals in Springfield, Pritzker gave unequivocal support for the 50,000-member trade group as “indispensable partners” in a shared mission to expand housing supply in Illinois to combat rising expenses.
Illinois Realtors has made an aggressive push in recent years to convince policymakers to ease zoning rules and cut red tape as a solution to the state’s increasing housing costs. This year, many of those proposals showed up in Pritzker’s Building Up Illinois Development (BUILD) plan, which calls for eliminating single-family zoning on lots of a certain size statewide and legalizing accessory dwelling units across the state. Other pieces of the agenda include cutting building regulations, streamlining impact fees and allocating state funding to building projects.
Poll finds support, warning signs for Pritzker’s BUILD plan
Jeff Baker, the CEO of the Illinois REALTORS, told Capitol News Illinois that the group is currently focused on educating legislators and municipal leaders about the plan and to “confront some of the misrepresentation and misinformation that’s out there.”
“I think that there are some efforts underway to simply scare cities and municipalities into just saying no – efforts that suggest that the state is trying to take away all zoning authority for municipalities,” (Baker) said. “That’s not happening. So we need to push back on that message.”
(Baker) said there are other factors driving soaring housing prices, from the cost of building materials to high interest rates, but “that municipal side of it is nearly 50% of the cost when you factor in zoning approvals, permit timelines and approvals, impact fees, tap-on fees (and) municipal taxes.”
Pritzker touts plan to increase affordable housing as pushback from suburbs grows
Gov. JB Pritzker touted the advantages of legislation intended to increase affordable housing in Illinois Tuesday, as pushback grows in the suburbs over fears of losing autonomy.
“Home prices in the Chicago metro area have grown over 48% in just the last few years,” Illinois Realtors CEO Jeff Baker said. “The cost to families is real.”
