On June 2, ONE Northside’s members and volunteers voted to endorse the proposal to upzone Broadway from Montrose to Devon. Our endorsement was made by individual members, organizational members, and active volunteers who live along the corridor through a robust deliberative process. Our members and volunteers determined that the upzone aligns enough with our longstanding housing justice priorities—which include increasing the amount of deeply affordable housing, preserving existing affordable housing, and increasing renter protections—to merit an endorsement.
We support the upzoning proposal because increased density is an important step toward building and maintaining housing affordability. Our neighborhoods’ vibrancy, diversity, and improved transit is attracting new residents. The upzone proposal is one way to enable the construction of more housing to meet this rising demand. Most importantly, we strongly support the inclusion of a retroactive trigger of the Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO), a policy we helped improve in 2021, which will help ensure that income-restricted affordable units are included in new developments. While most units in the new developments will likely be unaffordable to many of our members, we understand the importance of supporting all available tools for building new housing affordable to a variety of income levels, especially in light of looming cuts in federal funding.
While density is necessary for affordability, it is not enough. When we speak with our neighbors in Edgewater and Uptown, we hear a clear message: a love for the vibrancy and economic, cultural, and racial diversity of our neighborhoods, but a fear that rising rents will push out longtime residents, particularly Black residents and members of our many immigrant communities. To prevent this outcome, Chicago must pursue wide-ranging policies that promote affordability and prevent displacement alongside zoning reforms. This includes more funding for affordable housing, effective use of publicly-owned land and public housing funds, protections for renters, and curbing speculative behavior by the real estate industry. ONE Northside will continue to organize and advocate for such policies. Most recently, we worked with our allies in the Chicago Housing Justice Coalition to introduce a Just Cause for Eviction ordinance in the City Council.
Our support for the proposal also reflects our experience with Alders Clay, Martin, and Manaa-Hoppenworth. We have worked with these alders on numerous housing priorities, including the creation of the Green Social Housing program, protections for Single Room Occupancy housing, and the preservation of affordable housing stock recently threatened by the bankruptcy of Heartland Housing. We have found Alders Clay, Martin, and Manaa-Hoppenworth to be collaborative leaders and advocates, and expect them to be good stewards of the future development of the Broadway corridor. We look forward to working with them to ensure that this is the case and to pursue other policies that promote development without displacement.
This statement and endorsement were ratified by ONE Northside’s Leadership Council on June 9, 2025.
