Chamber attends hearing to support Middle Income Housing Bill

On Wednesday May 1, the Quad Cities Chamber traveled to Springfield to testify in support of SB2922, the Middle Income Housing Bill, a bill drafted by the Chamber to create new incentives in Illinois targeted at developers to support new housing development. The bill would create an incentive of up to $40,000 per unit in the form of a tax credit for housing targeted at households earning between 80% - 120% of area median income.

Conversations with municipal partners and developers in late 2023 revealed that there was a distinct lack of incentives dedicated to non-low income housing.

The hearing included testimony from Senator Mike Halpin in regard to why he introduced the bill and the statewide value of a new housing incentive.

Ryan Sempf, Executive Director for Government Affairs for the Quad Cities Chamber followed Sen. Halpin’s testimony and provided the context for why this initiative is important in the Quad Cities region and provided background data and peer-reviewed research on the value of developer-focused incentives in combating the housing crisis.

The Illinois legislative session will continue through the end of May, and this bill has the potential to be included in a final revenue package. However, with tight State budgets, we expect this legislation to be a longer-term conversation. We plan to engage committee members over the summer and during the fall veto session to continue the momentum from Wednesday’s hearing.

The Chamber will continue to support the business community and regional success in Springfield, and we encourage those interested in joining our work to sign up for Action Alerts.

To see all bills the Chamber is watching, check out our bill tracker.