It was an active month in City Council, with several key pieces of legislation being debated, and several exciting new pieces of environmental legislation introduced. Read on for more details!
Key Legislation
Green Social Housing
This week and last week, the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Housing and Real Estate held joint hearings to discuss the Green Social Housing Ordinance (SO2025-0015560), an effort to create long-term affordable housing that is both financially and environmentally sustainable.
There is an urgent need for this kind of public investment in affordable housing. Our city is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, with a shortage of over 119,000 affordable units in Chicago, and over half of Chicagoans spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. The crisis is poised to grow as construction costs skyrocket, and traditional affordable housing models are becoming less and less financially sustainable.
Green social housing is an environmentally and financially sustainable answer to this crisis. This program would provide low-cost construction loans to developers on the condition that they sell the property back to the government upon completion. Because these properties are publicly owned, the City is then able to prioritize affordability over profit long-term. And because they are mixed-income––with 70% market rate units and 30% affordable units––the rent from market units subsidizes long-term affordability, instead of relying on ongoing government subsidies. The income from these units can also be be reinvested in more loans, to build more housing. If passed, Green Social Housing, is projected to increase City-supported affordable and mixed-income housing by up to 50%.
This program is not only financially sustainable, but environmentally sustainable as well: GSH projects are required to abide by the Department of Planning and Development Sustainable Development Standards. By investing in clean energy and other sustainability measures, these projects will not only improve indoor air quality—it will also significantly reduce tenant utility bills, making these units even more affordable.
In January, Ald. Vasquez joined Ald. Villegas and Ald. Hadden in introducing an ordinance to establish a Chicago Social Housing Corporation to expand the number of available affordable units citywide. The following month, Mayor Johnson introduced his own Green Social Housing ordinance. The Mayor’s version focused mostly on new construction, while Alds. Vasquez, Hadden, and Villegas’s version focused more on acquisition of existing properties.
In the past two months, Ald. Vasquez has been working closely with his colleagues and the Mayor’s Office to merge the two proposals to create the most robust Green Social Housing model. Through those negotiations, the ordinance was expanded to include acquisitions, expand affordability by adding provisions for more deeply affordable units, and ensure that the program remains accountable to the public by strengthening its governance.
In Wednesday’s final Joint Committee meeting, the Office of the Inspector General and the Board of Ethics raised concerns about the lack of clarity with some of the language in how the nonprofit entity responsible for the governance of GSH projects would function. In order to allow all parties more time to review and make any necessary changes, Ald. Vasquez joined 15 other alders in voting to hold the legislation, so we can ensure that we pass the strongest and most accountable version of this program. We anticipate another hearing to follow in the coming month, and we look forward to working towards its eventual passage!
CPS Quarterly Hearings
City Council also voted to pass the Chicago Public School Quarterly Hearings ordinance (O2024-0008387). Ald. Vasquez introduced the ordinance in 2023 to ensure greater transparency and accountability between Chicago City Council and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) by requiring CPS leadership to attend quarterly hearings in the Committee on Education and Child Development.
During a time when both the City and CPS are facing significant challenges, it is imperative that we establish a regular dialogue so we can work through these challenges together. In recent months, there have been many conversations about the financial entanglement between the City and CPS. There will be many more as both the City and CPS navigate not only our ongoing pension debt, but also the financial consequences of the Trump administration’s reckless funding cuts. These conversations impact our children’s future—we can’t afford to have them behind closed doors.
We’re grateful that City Council voted to pass this measure, and we’re looking forward to the opportunity for more transparency and accountability regarding these conversations!
Protecting Families and Caregivers Resolution
In the last few months, the Trump administration has targeted the LGBTQ community, and particularly the trans community with a series of executive orders threatening their civil rights and bodily autonomy.
Though these tactics have been disheartening and enraging, we are fighting hard on the City Council front to uphold and protect the civil rights of our queer and trans siblings, as well as all communities who are targeted for discrimination.
This month, we voted to pass the Protecting Families and Caregivers Ordinance (SO2024-0012999), which extends anti-discrimination protections to cover not only protected classes, but anyone associated with members of those classes. Currently, the Chicago’s Human Relations Code prohibits discrimination against anyone based on their race, sex, gender identity, age, religion, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, military status, or source of income. This ordinance extends those protections not only to the person themselves, but also anyone associated with that person.
In a time when so many of our civil rights are under attack, we are proud to have voted to extend civil rights to not only those targeted by these attacks, but also those who love them.
January 6th Ban
Ald. Vasquez also voted in support of a resolution, SR2025-0015310, calling on the City to not to hire anyone who was convicted of a crime related to participating in the January 6th riots, regardless of whether they have been pardoned. This legislation seeks to prevent those who were convicted of attempting to violently overthrow our government from seeking employment from that same government.
Legislative Introductions
Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impact Ordinance
The Cumulative Impact Ordinance (O2025-0016697) was introduced this month, named for Hazel Johnson, a leader in the fight against environmental racism in Chicago.
In Chicago, the environmental impacts of polluting industries has had a disproportionate effect on Black, Latino and low-income neighborhoods. In 2023, the City conducted a Cumulative Impact Assessment to analyze how environmental factors like exposure to toxins impacted these communities, and how those impacts intersected with other health and socioeconomic factors. This assessment followed a federal investigation that found that the city had routinely steered heavy industry away from white communities and into Black and Latino communities.
This ordinance is a first step in addressing and correcting that history. The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance will strengthen the zoning review process for industries or facilities with high pollution potential.
Any new project proposed that has the potential for pollution will now be required to undergo a cumulative impact study to evaluate the impact of the project on public health, safety, and the environment, and present the study to the community for feedback. The study will also be reviewed by the Chief Sustainability Officer, Department Commissioners, and an Environmental Justice Advisory Board that would be formed following this ordinance to provide feedback and recommendations based on the study’s findings.
These additional protections are crucial in ensuring that we are protecting our community from the health and environmental impacts of polluting industries––especially when it comes to communities that have already been poisoned those same industries.
Ald. Lopez (15th) referred this legislation to the Rules Committee to prevent its consideration. In order for it to be considered by City Council, it would need to be voted out of the Rules Committee, and then reintroduced at City Council to be referred to the correct committee.
Sustainable Parkways Resolution
This Earth Month, we introduced the Sustainable Parkways Resolution (R2025-0016566), an effort to create parkways that are more ecologically friendly.
For several years now, neighbors have been calling on us to include pollinator gardens and native plantings in our city’s construction restoration projects, so that our parkways offer more environmental benefits to our neighborhoods. Following those calls, the 40th Ward Environmental Board created the Parkways for Pollinators Working Group to research and develop policy solutions to encourage pollinator gardens.
This resolution is the result of their hard work! The goal of the resolution is to investigate the costs and benefits of requiring the City to use native plant and pollinator seeds instead of turfgrass in their parkway restoration projects.
Currently, the Department of Transportation’s policy is to install turf grass in parkway restorations. But turfgrasses come with health and environmental health impacts: soil erosion during wind or rain events, air quality impacts from gas mowing, and negative impacts on air quality and human and animal health from the use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. In comparison, pollinator gardens offer environmental benefits by creative healthy, biodiverse ecosystem that help pollinator species thrive, and contribute to the overall health of the City’s environment.
This resolution calls for a subject matter hearing to explore the costs and benefits of moving from turfgrass to native plant seeds, including identifying possible pilot programs and considering the formation of a working group to conduct a cost-benefit study on incorporating these practices into the city’s long-term planning and development processes.
Transit Reform
This month, Ald. Vasquez introduced a resolution, R2025-0016638, calling on the Illinois Legislative General Assembly to pass transit management reform and a revenue omnibus package.
The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) is approaching a fiscal cliff, jeopardizing public transit for the 1 million residents and visitors that use public transit to access jobs, healthcare, retail, and recreation throughout the Chicago region daily.
RTA is facing a $770 million budget shortfall, which they project will result in a 40% service reduction in early 2026 if the Illinois General Assembly (ILGA) does not implement a funding and management solution that addresses the upcoming. These cuts would risk 4 of 8 CTA rail lines being fully or partially shut down and 60% of bus routes being eliminated, which would have a devastating impact to Chicago’s residents and its economy
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, issued a Plan of Action for Regional Transit recommending up to $1.5 billion in additional annual operating funding be used to deliver public transit service improvements systemwide in northeastern Illinois, and recommendations to stabilize and grow the funding sources for public transit. This resolution strongly urged the ILGA to pass a transit omnibus package that aligns with these recommendations, so we can hold ourselves accountable in providing this essential service to the people of the Chicago.
Resolutions
April is Arab American Heritage month, and we were so grateful to recognize the incredible work of Syrian Community Network! We passed R2025-0016244, a resolution honoring SCN for their 10th anniversary. Representatives from SCN were also present as guests of honor at this month’s City Council meeting, in recognition of Arab American Heritage Month and their work supporting the immigrant and refugee community in Chicago.
Syrian Community Network began 10 years ago in response to the refugee crisis in Syria. Syrians account for almost 1 in 5 refugees worldwide. When the first Syrian families began to resettle in Chicago, SCN was there, matching refugees with mentors to help them navigate new systems, languages, and cultures, and providing them with funds and support to help with rent, food, and other basic needs.
Now, ten years later, they have welcomed over 2,000 people from 30 different countries, speaking more than 18 different languages. They have provided a model of community care by working alongside immigrants and refugees to help them navigate the immigration system, access public benefits and resources, and provide them with the resources, support, and education they need to make a life in a new city. They also provide educational, social, and emotional support for kids navigating a new school system in a new country, often in an entirely new language.
In a time when so many folks are attacking immigrants and refugees, we are so grateful to Syrian Community Network for showing up in spite of threats to their funding and their work to make sure immigrants and refugees feel safe, welcome, and supported in our city and communities.