Become a Member

The Chicago city council voted unanimously to relegalize coach houses and conversion units today. Please thank your alderperson for voting yes to pass this important ordinance. Additionally, if they have single family zoning in their ward, encourage them to OPT IN with the fewest restrictions possible ASAP.

On September 25th, the Chicago City Council will vote on whether to legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) citywide—and we need your voice to make it happen.

As summer draws to a close, we have a packed schedule of events coming up that you won’t want to miss!

Whew, summer is just flying by! We have a few exciting events coming up in the next couple weeks. See below!

Last week, the Chicago City Council unanimously voted to enact major parking reforms across the city. It's time to party. Let's celebrate this victory of reducing parking minimums across most of Chicago!

The accessory dwelling unit (ADU) as well as parking reform ordinances passed out of the zoning committee today! Now, both ordinances need to get through the full city council tomorrow to make it across the finish line.

We have a lot of events coming up in the next couple weeks. See below!

The Zoning Committee added parking reform to its agenda for tomorrow, Tuesday, 6/17. Strong Towns Chicago encourages followers to urge their aldermen to support this ordinance.

We have a lot of events coming up in the next couple weeks that we encourage folks to attend!

The Illinois legislature failed to act on several Strong Towns Chicago key initiatives yesterday. Legislators must take urgent action to address these issues. While this is a disappointing setback, the fight is far from over. We encourage members to attend our monthly meetup, Wednesday at 6:30 to discuss where we go from here.

We have 3 upcoming events we’d like to invite everyone to!

There are two housing bills in the Illinois State House currently being discussed by legislators: HB 1813 - Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Permissibility Act and HB 1814 - Missing Middle Housing Act.

Join our friends at Abundant Housing IL and call/email your state representative and senator to support these crucial bills!

Strong Towns Chicago is now an official nonprofit in the state of Illinois and we are thrilled to launch our very first member drive!

It’s been a busy month. We have tons of updates and upcoming events so let’s get into it!

Illinois housing abundance bills successfully pass out of committee one day before the deadline. We know that the emails and calls you all made yesterday made a difference! Let’s keep showing up for abundant housing in IL!

The Illinois House's Housing Committee didn't give any of the housing legalization bills a hearing. Join our friends at Abundant Housing IL and email Chair Jimenez and Speaker Welch to tell them to advance these bills! 

Lots of updates and ways to get involved in the upcoming days. Some highlights: We hosted our first members happy hour at Graystone Tavern in Wrigleyville and we released another Strong Towns Chicago podcast, with Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi as the episode’s guest.

This year, it’s our New Year’s resolution to make Chicago more affordable & financially solvent, with safer streets and stronger transit for all!

To those aims, we have some upcoming member events and calls to activism for members.

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and have some exciting events to share before even more holidays are upon us.