Home Grown: Local Housing Strategies in Action

Thank you for using Home Grown: Local Housing Strategies in Action. This collection — compiled by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, Chicago Metropolis 2020, and Metropolitan Planning Council — describes a number of housing "best practices" implemented by local governments around the Chicago metropolitan region. The intent is to show local policymakers and practitioners how their peers are addressing housing issues, and spark ideas for replicating or improving upon these approaches to address their own local housing challenges. This collection demonstrates that exciting, innovative, local efforts are contributing to a quality, diverse housing stock that meets the needs of a variety of residents in our region.

Each summary focuses on how a program, policy or development came about, how it works, why it has been successful, and how it is financed. While many of the best practices address affordable housing issues, other topics, such as fair housing and accessibility, are included in the booklet. Where applicable, we include information on how the public was involved in the process, and what "lessons" the community learned, including what local leaders would do differently in hindsight. Each document also includes information for the people responsible for the initiative, and users are encouraged to contact them for further information.

Click here to download the entire collection.
Please note that this is a large file (1.7 Mb) and can take up to 2 minutes to download depending on your connection speed.

*all links are PDF files that will open in a new window.

This publication is a "living" resource and, to that end, the partners will update the collection periodically with new summaries of the best practices that are working in our region. If you would like to suggest a local housing development, policy, or program to be included in future editions, please contact Beth Dever with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (312/201-4507; beth.dever@mayorscaucus.org), Nancy Firfer with Chicago Metropolis 2020 (312/332-2020; mailnancy.l.firfer@cm2020.org), or Josh Ellis with the Metropolitan Planning Council (312/863-6045; jellis@metroplanning.org).