A City That Works

27 Aug

The City That Works is a newsletter about politics and public policy in Chicago. We think Chicago is a great city, and love the ideas encapsulated in the name that Richard Daley gave it - ‘The City That Works.’

By just investing a fraction of Chicago’s $2 billion police budget into improving its civilian emergency response program, Chicago will not only prevent unnecessary incarceration but save both lives and money. citythatworks.substack.com/p/solutions-...

“Mayor Johnson was elected on a campaign platform that included greatly expanding the CARE program, but unfortunately, his administration’s mismanagement of the program shrunk its staff and responses dramatically for his first three years in office, despite expanding city-wide.”

“If Chicago can fix its 911 dispatch, get the right leadership, and put in sufficient funding (possibly with the help of the county), it can be part of one of the most important changes in emergency response in decades.”

“One of the first programs was Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS), founded in the 1980s…CAHOOTS teams consist of a medic (usually an EMT) and a mental health crisis worker trained on de-escalation, harm reduction, behavioral health, and substance use.”

“Chicago launched its own Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) program in 2021 in response to a broader effort called Treatment Not Trauma that would also reopen city mental health clinics and drop-in spaces.“

“An analysis of 911 calls in several cities suggests that around 21 to 38 percent of their 911 calls are for nonviolent behavioral issues like wellness checks, homelessness, and suspicious person reports.”

“Policing accounts for over 20% of Chicago’s budget, making it the largest department at over $2 billion budgeted. (The city is spending $6 million on CARE in 2026.) It also has an enormous impact on people’s lives: when someone is arrested, incarcerated, or shot by police…”

“Sending an armed police officer to a call that doesn’t require a badge and a gun is also extremely expensive, especially if it unnecessarily ends in arrest. Chicago police salaries are typically over $100,000 and incarcerating somebody in Illinois costs over $49,000 per year.”

Join A City That Works and Illinois Comptroller and Mayoral candidate @susanamendoza10.bsky.social next Friday, October 30th in North Center to discuss her career, campaign, and vision for Chicago. RSVP below: shorturl.at/hgWdg

The detrimental impacts of Chicago’s housing crisis to the city’s economy and population growth cannot be overstated enough, so we decided to visualize it! citythatworks.substack.com/p/introducin...

Explore our new dashboard to see firsthand what affordability and housing looks like across Chicago. Data is pulled from multiple sources including Chicago building permits, Department of Housing maps, Zillow listings, and US census information. housing.acitythatworks.org/permitting

From fragmented systems to inefficient application processes, Illinois makes it far too laborious to finance affordable housing compared to other states. That needs to change. Feat. @chicagogrowthproj.bsky.social President, Adam Drakulic citythatworks.substack.com/p/it-doesnt-...

“Every state gets to choose how to administer LIHTC credits and other affordable housing programs. Illinois should take lessons from states that have already made their processes more efficient.”

“Illinois already makes major public investments in affordable housing. It should get more homes, faster, from the dollars we are already committing. The Governor, IHDA, and local housing funders should put the money we already commit to work together.”

“In January 2025, the proposed financing included $60 million in TIF, a $47 million mortgage, $37 million in CHA loans, $37 million in LIHTC equity, and $21 million in historic tax credit equity… All of those programs required a separate application, approval, and closing…”

“Separate applications, underwriting, legal work, and conflicting conditions can require multiple revisions before a project is complete…As of July 2026, 29 of those 99 projects with 9 percent awards had no recorded closing date.”

“A City That Works has already documented the high cost of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) housing in Chicago…Another cost comes from assembling the financing itself.”

citythatworks.substack.comConfronting Chicago’s multi-layered housing crisisPart four in our series on Chicago’s upcoming mayoral election

Housing and affordability are two of the most pressing issues in upcoming elections, including Chicago’s mayoral race. The upcoming mayor will have to go beyond mere promises of “streamlining” and take tangible steps. citythatworks.substack.com/p/confrontin...

“Chicagoans should look for candidates that clearly explain the causes of the city’s shortage, and are willing to make specific policy commitments that reflect the scale of the problem we face.“

“But most importantly, while the politics of zoning and code reform is challenging, the political cost of rising rents is far worse. As Republicans are about to learn in the upcoming midterm elections, the “affordability crisis” is not just a slogan for the campaign trail.”

citythatworks.substack.comConfronting Chicago’s multi-layered housing crisisPart four in our series on Chicago’s upcoming mayoral election

“Chicago also has some of the highest construction costs in the country, trailing just New York and the Bay Area. That’s a function of a highly restrictive building code that applies limits on wood frame construction and PVC piping.”

“Candidates are already starting to roll out policy proposals. Voters should watch out for empty promises to build some eyepopping number of units, “streamline” permitting or that old standby: “cut red tape.”

citythatworks.substack.comConfronting Chicago’s multi-layered housing crisisPart four in our series on Chicago’s upcoming mayoral election

“In the last three years, rents in Chicago have grown faster than any other big city in the country. It’s not surprising that voters now rank housing as one of the three biggest problems facing the city.”

“It is also not a mystery why Chicago builds so much less than other cities. To start, our zoning code severely restricts the allowable height and density across much of the city.”

TOMORROW, October 15th: Join State Senator Lakesia Collins and candidates Jessica Biggs (Board President), Isaiah White (District 6A), and Anthony Hargrove (District 5B), for a conversation with A City That Works readers about the upcoming election and the future of CPS.

luma.comA School Board that Works · LumaLet's talk about the school board! Join State Senator Lakesia Collins and candidates Jessica Biggs (Board President), Anthony Hargrove (District 5B), and…

Chicago Public Schools. We’ll be at the Goose Island Salt Shed Pub from 5-7pm. Registration is free! luma.com/o32e7cw6

🚨Chicago built less homes than Omaha, Nebraska did in 2025. 🚨

Amongst other major cities in 2025, Chicago ranked dead last in housing construction. For a city of over 2.6 million residents, this ranking is not only an indictment against our cumbersome regulatory environment but threatens our city’s affordability and population growth.

citythatworks.substack.comA list of places that permitted more housing than Chicago last yearWe're in a dead heat with Omaha, Nebraska

Chicago must address its building and zoning codes, rework its permitting process, and address high taxes and regulation that have sent development elsewhere. Read more about solutions to our housing crisis: citythatworks.substack.com/p/were-in-a-...

A City That Works’ voter guide for 2026 midterm elections is here. Our recommendations prioritize competent governance and sensible ideas that will steer Chicago in a pro-growth direction. 🏙️ 📈 citythatworks.substack.com/p/a-city-tha...

chicagoelections.govchicagoelections.gov

Make sure you are registered to vote and have a plan in time for the election on Tuesday, November 3rd. Early voting is already open in downtown Chicago. 🗳️ chicagoelections.gov

With Chicago facing a projected $85.1 million budget shortfall this year, harder decisions will likely be necessary to balance the budget by December, even with the city’s risky decision to refinance bonds last week. citythatworks.substack.com/p/the-bond-s...

“That doesn’t mean refinancing is inherently a bad idea – it’s also bad to keep rolling the dice over and over and hoping for better conditions down the road – but it does mean we’re going to have to look elsewhere to close the budget gap.”

“The city has already picked nearly all the low-hanging budget fruit; we’ll eventually have to make harder decisions. And the official statement acknowledges that the 2027 budget outlook may negatively affect the ratings on GO bonds and, consequently, STSC bonds.”

“Last week, the city proceeded with its planned refinancing despite increasingly strong headwinds. As predicted, the deal is set to generate an estimated $20.8 million in 2026 budget relief, far below the $65 to $71 million the administration is counting on…”

The combination of a tough market for municipal bonds, investors preemptively pricing in a credit downgrade for Chicago, and these new third lien bonds meant that, as reported first by Stuart Loren, these new bonds fetched especially poor prices…”

November’s upcoming election for Chicago’s first fully-elected school board can be divided into two camps: those backed by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and those backed by a mix of moderate and business groups. 🧵 citythatworks.substack.com/p/why-are-al...

“But as the policy demands of the CTU have advanced over the last few years, the politics have shifted dramatically. Most notably, the SEIU, which has long been a close ally of the CTU, is now endorsing non-CTU candidates in a number of races across the city.”

“Today, there is a very big tent of groups working in opposition to the CTU…when you alienate every other political group in town, don’t act surprised when they all end up on the same team.”

“Over the last few years, there have been quite a few members of the Chicago School board who were not backed by any of the moderate groups described above. And they have tended to display a rather consistent pattern.”

“…the elected board members have steadily moved away from the CTU. Only two of the CTU’s four elected members backed its 2026 budget, which relies on $150M of additional money from the state to balance the books.”

“The CTU also doesn’t have a plan to use the money we do have to improve student achievement. Instead, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates has argued that even attempting to use tests to measure student learning is ‘junk science rooted in white supremacy.’”

“It’s not healthy to have elections funded by a small number of interest groups, and public education is something we should all have a stake in…but there are a couple of reasons to believe that we’re looking at something very different here.”

“There’s a lot going on in the chart below, but the short version is that there are basically two candidates running in every race, one of whom is endorsed by CTU, and another who is endorsed by Common Ground Collective or the Urban Center.” @frankcalabrese.bsky.social

“We’re not going to hide the ball here: We think that the recent actions of the CTU have been deeply damaging for the future of Chicago Public Schools. Over the last few years, CTU and its allies have pushed CPS to take out high interest loans to cover operating expenses…”