A new proposed ordinance would fulfil Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign promise to revamp the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance

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A years-in-the-making plan by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to revamp one of the city’s signature affordable housing policies would crank up requirements for many developers while offering them more ways to satisfy city rules. 

The top-to-bottom rewrite of the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance, set for introduction by Lightfoot during Wednesday’s City Council meeting, would fulfil one of Lightfoot’s key campaign promises. The ordinance has been a source of debate since its 2007 inception between housing activists, who say the policy has not done enough to spur new affordable homes in wealthy neighborhoods, and many developers, who have decried the rules as overly restrictive.