Chicago Homes for a Changing Region

Regional Housing Study and Community Housing Policy Plans

Homes for a Changing Region is a collaborative project between two regional organizations, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC), which represents the 273 communities in the Chicago metropolitan area, and Chicago Metropolis 2020 (CM 2020).

In Phase One of the project, Fregonese Associates (FA) worked with the two organizations to forecast housing supply and demand in the six-county Chicago metropolitan region through the year 2030 and identify imbalances that would likely impact the regional housing market. The report warned that too many large-lot, expensive single family homes and too few small-lot single family homes, townhomes and condominiums were being planned in the region.

In Phase Two of the project, FA, the MMC and CM 2020 are working with nine Chicago-area villages and cities and their respective Councils of Governments to show how the recommendations and strategies can be put into practice. In the past two years FA developed housing policy plans with Aurora, Libertyville, Oak Forest, Gurnee, Montgomery and Northlake. In 2008-09, this phase’s third and final year, the project team is working with with Blue Island, Plainfield and Woodstock.

Implementation actions by the communities thus far have included the start of new housing development projects adjacent to a suburban train station, adoption of an inclusionary zoning ordinance, the approval of new senior housing, and a downtown development plan with a significant housing focus.