This week, on June 26th, the IL Senate sent HB4571 (County CD Affordable Housing) to the Governor for his signature.
If you hated student loan bailouts, then you’re going to hate this bill as much, if not more. I’ve written about the bill before, but it is so egregious that it’s worth another discussion and explanation.
Once this becomes law, in certain counties, those county elected officials will be allowed to acquire property, develop it at taxpayer expense, and then lease or sell it below market rate to create or preserve affordable housing for people earning up to 140% of the median income.
The bill only applies “to counties having a population of greater than 750,000 residents and fewer than 2 million residents and counties having the county executive form of government and a population of greater than 650,000 and fewer than 2 million residents.”
Only two counties, DuPage County and Will County, fit that description.
According to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, the median household income in DuPage County is $115,259 and in Will County the median household income is $109,888 (the latest update from February 2026 for 2024 income.)
140% of median household income in DuPage County is then $161,363 and in Will County $153, 843.
Once these politicians acquire the property, the bill then allows these two counties to offer “developers of affordable housing units, financial incentives, including, but not limited to, grants and loans, and infrastructure improvements, including, but not limited to, stormwater detention, public water and sewer improvements, and similar improvements that facilitate increasing the supply of affordable housing units.”
So politicians can buy property, give it to a developer with a taxpayer grant to build a home on it, and then lease or sell the newly built home to someone earning $160,000 in DuPage County.
This is Socialism.
I know a lot of people who own homes and don’t have household incomes that high. So, the politicians want them to pay their mortgage and property taxes and then subsidize their neighbors’ mortgage and property taxes when the neighbor is making more money than they are.
In plain language, that’s what the bill would allow. Read it for yourself in the link above.
The bill passed with Republican support. In the IL House, Republicans La Ha, Sanalitro, and Sheehan voted for it. In the Senate, Senate Minority Leader John Curran, Seth Lewis, Sue Rezin, and Jil Tracy voted for the bill.
What were they thinking?
One simple, easy-to-understand reason not to vote for the bill is that it is written to apply to only two of the 102 counties in Illinois.
If it’s such a good idea, folks, then why not make it the law of the land everywhere?
Another good reason is that we shouldn’t be encouraging the government to buy private property with taxpayer money and give it to others making $160,000!
Thirdly, the bill grows government. This is the last thing we need in Illinois.
I encourage people to contact the Governor to urge a veto of the bill, but that is likely a futile endeavor. This is just the sort of legislation Governor Pritzker can’t wait to sign.
Now imagine that Pritzker’s stalled BUILD Act passes after the election, as many predict. It would abolish local zoning rules and allow single-family plots to be razed and six-flats to be built on the lot previously zoned for one home.
Pair that with HB4571, and the politicians will be bringing in government housing everywhere and making you pay for it.
And they will smugly do it all in the name of “Affordable” housing.
Here are the voting lists for HB4571.
Our latest graphic on the budget vote, here are the Democrats who voted for the budget that represent any part of DuPage County. From my analysis, only one DuPage Democrat did not vote for the budget, Suzy Glowiak-Hilton.
