Author: Dan Lurie, President and CEO, Metropolitan Planning Council

Why we’re sharing this 

Chicago has grown increasingly unaffordable to buy or rent a home since 2000. This is true particularly in the north and northwest sides of the city where the pace of unaffordability has grown the fastest but is also the case on the south and southwest sides. This is further compounded by the racial wealth gap, joblessness, and other structural factors that stand in the way of Black and Latinx families in Chicago. Metropolitan Planning Council’s (MPC) research shows that more than 65 percent of the census tracts in the City of Chicago are unaffordable for a typical Black family to own a home and 45 percent are unaffordable for a typical Latinx family. Housing affordability is both a cause and an effect of socioeconomic forces that are holding our great city back.    

Chicago can also be a difficult place to open and grow a small business. Not surprisingly, MPC research demonstrates that residential and business vacancies are relatively greater in lower-income areas that are predominantly Black and Latinx, while white and Asian parts of the city have lower vacancy rates. This is particularly acute in Black Chicago: Majority Black areas experience vacancy rates double the citywide average. And while there are available storefronts and other key public infrastructure in place to support new business growth, the complex zoning and permitting process and a lack of access to capital are likely to stand in the way of success, no matter where one seeks to invest.  

Cut the Tape was created to begin addressing these twin challenges, with a particular focus on how Chicago’s government can reduce barriers and improve practices to become a more effective partner to the range of stakeholders involved in housing production, housing affordability, and small business entrepreneurship. Cut the Tape seeks to find and implement fast-track approaches that do not require new public spending. Instead, the initiative focuses on relatively small administrative and regulatory changes that can generate big improvements. MPC views this work as a foundational piece of its own long-term agenda to build what it terms “governing capacity”—the ability of local governments to deliver on its commitments and thereby improve quality of life, economic competitiveness, and government legitimacy. 

Through MPC’s leadership supporting the 50-member Cut the Tape Task Force, we have helped convene the real estate and development community to identify "pain points” and surface solutions. MPC also helps the City’s team implement the initiative’s “Big Bets” and other recommendations and offers technical support on related priority policy goals. We at MPC believe that the partnerships formed via this initiative—between the policy community and City departments, between advocates and developers, and among all of them in collaboration—are a fundamentally important and a foundational approach that, with additional policy changes and other investment strategies, will serve to ultimately boost the City’s ability to deliver on greater housing production, help drive down housing costs for families, and make it easier for residents to become business owners and create good jobs. 

What Cut the Tape has achieved so far 

Here are a few early highlights for Cut the Tape: 

1. Developing community vacant land more quickly (Recommendation #8) 

• What wasn’t working well? The City-owned land sale process was slower than necessary and created unnecessary delays in getting vacant land in neighborhoods back in active use  
• What was addressed? Unnecessary duplicative reviews were halted by changing the municipal code so that sales of City-owned land now only need to be approved by one reviewing body rather than two prior to going to City Council 
• Why this matters? Faster and smoother transformation of vacant land in neighborhoods into housing and businesses enables economic growth and new tax revenue, ultimately fostering new wealth, neighborhood vibrancy, and a better quality of life for residents 

2. Allowing underutilized commercial space to be transformed into housing (Recommendation #76) 

• What wasn’t working? Repurposing underutilized commercial ground floor spaces into new residential units was complicated by a burdensome approval process  
• What was addressed? Instead of a lengthy approval process, the City’s Zoning Administrator can now approve proposals directly if they meet certain conditions 
• Why this matters? A speedier approval process will generate more residential units in otherwise vacant spaces, thereby providing much needed housing, reducing the negative impacts of vacancy, and revitalizing commercial corridors 
   

3. Reducing fees and processing time for straightforward zoning changes (Recommendation #70) 

• What wasn’t working? Applicants for relatively minor zoning changes would need to go through a lengthy process for approval via the Zoning Board of Appeals, an appointed quasi-judicial decision-making body that is designed to approve or deny certain types of zoning changes that offer developers and owners relief from existing zoning laws 

• What was addressed? Minor zoning changes can now be requested via a “Type 1 zoning application,” an already-established, routine procedure that can bypass the Zoning Board of Appeals and get approved more quickly through City Council 

• Why this matters? Many of the small zoning changes are related to housing and business development and this improvement has resulted in months cut off the approval timeline and a significant reduction in fees, which means that community projects can be completed faster and at reduced costs for investors and developers. 

Of the 107 Cut the Tape recommendations, 90 percent have been completed or are in progress as of today.  

What’s next?

In the short term, MPC is partnering with the Chicago Department of Housing (DOH) to update its process of approving and financing new affordable housing developments. The quicker DOH can get to a “yes” and the faster it can provide financing (while still also doing its due diligence), the more quality housing units it can provide. MPC also plans to champion efforts to allow more housing to be built by-right throughout the city via changes to zoning and complementary regulations.   

MPC also wants to harness the momentum from this last year to advance a broader policy agenda that can unlock more growth opportunities for Chicago’s neighborhoods and build the governing capacity of Chicago government to drive an innovation economy and address affordability challenges, especially those tied to entrenched racial housing and economic segregation. 

Join the Conversation  

Your voice is essential in shaping the future of housing and development in Chicago. Policymakers need to hear from those directly impacted by these changes—whether you’re a developer, advocate, or resident navigating these processes. How has this work affected you? What challenges still need to be addressed? Your insights can help drive continued reform and ensure these efforts lead to lasting, meaningful improvements. Stay informed and help us keep the momentum going. 

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