An investigation by The New York Times and the Illinois Answers Project shows that many cities in Illinois have turned crime-free housing programs into a blunt instrument to oust families for virtually any alleged infraction, no matter how minor.

Despite Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s trademark optimism, the unrelenting turmoil of the past two years, and his missteps in handling problems both new and old, has weakened his political standing, ensuring that if he runs for and wins a second term in office in 2027, he will have to do it the same way he won the first time: as an underdog.

Chicago faces an affordable housing shortfall of more than 119,000 units, and more than half of Chicagoans spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, making them burdened by housing costs.

“Housing is obviously unaffordable for everyone, but it is especially the case for people who have records,” said Ahmadou Dramé, director of the Illinois Justice Project. “Without a stable place to live, you can’t begin to triage all the other challenges that a person has to be navigating.”

A final vote on both proposals, which would create 104 units of affordable housing, by the full City Council is set for Wednesday.

Chicago is now home to the National Public Housing Museum, a first of its kind institution created alongside people who’ve lived in public housing.

Even after a four-hour hearing, several alderpeople said they were not prepared to vote on the proposal designed to leverage the city’s financial power to build what the city calls “green social housing,” permanently affordable, mixed-income and environmentally sustainable housing.

A joint session of the Housing and Finance committees on Wednesday will consider the proposal to leverage the city’s financial power to build permanently affordable, mixed-income and environmentally sustainable housing.

As part of the program, the city provides repairs, and homeowners are not required to pay back any repair costs. Registration for a chance to apply begins at 9 a.m. Monday, March 10, and runs through 5 p.m. Friday, March 21.

One of Chicago’s largest developers will invoke a little-known and untested provision of city law in an attempt to win approval for a 615-unit apartment complex in Lincoln Park.

The City Council’s Finance Committee unanimously endorsed the plan from R2 Co. and the Campari Group to transform the 14-story office building at 79 W. Monroe St. into an apartment building with 117 units, including 41 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans.

The Chicago City Council voted 44-3 to approve what supporters dubbed the Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance, which expands two pilot programs that began in 2021 and makes them a permanent part of the city code.

The data underscores the gravity of America’s home-affordability crisis: Not only has buying a home become prohibitively expensive for many Americans, but so too has renting one.

Vice President Kamala Harris made her case for the presidency last week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where she zeroed in on a problem plaguing many Americans: affordable housing.

To this day, Chicagoans live in a fairly segregated city. And that segregation didn’t happen by coincidence but by design. WTTW News Explains how redlining worked in Chicago.

Chicago routinely ranks among the most segregated big cities in America when measured by the dissimilarity index, a tool used to gauge how evenly distributed demographic groups are throughout a distinct geographic area.