Executive Summary
Illinois is short nearly 260,000 affordable rental homes for those with low or extremely low incomes, including nearly 11,000 units of Permanent Supportive Housing for neighbors in need of wrap-around services. Despite the magnitude of the deficit, many communities across the state lack affordable housing. Lawmakers and policy advocates are seeking to change that.
During the regular session of the 2026 Illinois General Assembly, Impact for Equity drafted and advocated for HB 5198, amendments to the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act (AHPAA)—the only law in Illinois focused on increasing affordable housing in the state’s most expensive communities. This bill complements a slate of other housing and land use legislation introduced during the 2026 regular session, including Governor Pritzker’s Building Up Illinois Developments or BUILD package, which aims to increase the availability of multi-family residential buildings, decrease barriers to housing production, spur development, and increase homeownership.
An improved AHPAA and BUILD—if passed jointly with other housing bills in front of the General Assembly this year—would be a powerful step towards addressing the state’s affordability concerns. But additional laws are not enough. To increase affordable housing production, Illinois must create a robust housing ecosystem—where a web of interconnected and mutually reinforcing housing and land use legislation is diligently administered by well-resourced state agencies.
Building a Strong Housing Ecosystem: Lessons for Illinois from California chronicles what Illinois can learn from the reforms California has implemented as part of that state’s effort to address its own housing crisis. These recommendations include ways to strengthen the state’s relationship with local governments, increasing state capacity and inter-agency coordination, and ecosystem building.
