Housing Equity is the Foundation We Build On
Across Chicago and Illinois, housing instability is a reality for too many people. That’s why, for more than fifty years, our legal and policy advocacy has focused on removing barriers to quality, safe, and affordable housing and promoting fairness and expanded options across the region.
We are currently focused on public housing in Chicago, fair and affordable housing, and housing conditions.
The Critical Role of Public Housing
Public housing has played a critical role in providing safe, affordable, and stable housing for countless households and families since the New Deal. By providing deeply and permanently affordable homes, public housing also serves as a massive intervention against homelessness, and in favor of communities where families can build wealth, raise children, and retire with dignity.
In recent years, new models of permanently affordable, publicly controlled development—sometimes called “social housing”—have opened up additional opportunities for creating high-quality housing serving all income levels in the face of declining federal support. Impact for Equity works to realize the potential of public and social housing to contribute to a region everyone can call home.
Affordable Housing Should Be a Choice for Everyone
Impact for Equity works to expand the supply of affordable housing in all communities across Illinois so that everyone can choose the best home for them and their family. Alongside that work is a commitment to fair housing and to eliminating barriers based on race, ethnicity, disability, gender, and other legally protected identities. Impact for Equity believes that communities free of these barriers are stronger, more resilient, and more livable for everyone.
A Higher Standard of Housing Conditions
An equitable housing system should ensure that all residents live in safe and healthy environments, not just affordable ones. Poor housing conditions, such as inadequate heating, lead paint, mold, or a lack of structural integrity, create risks to the quality of life and safety of residents and particularly affect young people’s ability to grow and thrive. By ensuring that all housing is well-maintained and livable, we can create a more just and equitable society where everyone can live in a home that supports their overall well-being.
When the Impact for Equity team approached me to partner on affordable housing legislation I asked them for data. A lot of data. And the IFE team delivered. From then on, I’ve been impressed with their ability to efficiently pull together exactly the data I needed, as the chief sponsor, to effectively advocate for our legislation. That attention to detail, ability to get in the weeds to make the case, and perseverance throughout the process, is what make the Impact for Equity team stand out in Springfield.
– Illinois Representative Tracy Katz Muhl, District 57
