Illinois Partners is proud to have supported the Bring Chicago Home campaign in an inspirational push to create housing opportunities for people experiencing houselessness in Chicago.
With only about an 8-percent margin, Chicago voters rejected the ballot referendum that would have used a tax equity strategy to generate funding to combat homelessness and create construction jobs in the city.
The election board is still counting mail-in ballots and will finalize votes by Tuesday, April 9. While this outcome is the result of widespread misinformation by the opposition, we know that the people of Chicago want to see more investment in community services and resources, and will continue to advocate for it.
In solidarity, campaign organizers released a statement on March 19 that we also want to share with you:
Bring Chicago Home Statement:
Our Resolve to Fight for Housing Justice ContinuesCHICAGO – The Bring Chicago Home campaign exists in the long lineage of past and present struggles for fair housing, civil rights, and economic justice. While tonight’s election results are disappointing, we are nowhere near the end of our journey.
There are still 100,000 outstanding mail-in ballots to be counted, but whatever the final count, one thing is abundantly clear tonight: how determined our opponents are to continue profiting from displacement and inequality. From landlords sending intimidating emails to tenants to a legal challenge attempting to invalidate the results, the realtors, corporate landlords, and mega-developers fought us at every turn.
Our broad-based coalition–made up of homeless and formerly homeless people, union members, faith leaders, social service providers, community organizations, and grassroots volunteers–is determined to keep fighting for housing justice. Together, our city-wide field program knocked over 300,000 doors, made over 600,000 phone calls, and sent over 1 million text messages across all 50 wards. This is the work that makes our movement stronger over the long haul, no matter the final result.
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