Westmont to adopt resolution opposing aspects of Pritzker’s ‘Section 8 Everywhere’ plan
Officials of the Village of Westmont are voicing concerns about a state housing proposal that local officials say could reduce community input on development decisions.
“The Village of Westmont recently discussed the proposed BUILD ACT, which is being considered by the State Legislature,” according to a May 29 post on the Village's official Facebook account. “The Village feels that local planning decisions should include input from the people who live in the neighborhoods affected by development. Local zoning hearings, planning commissions, and municipal boards give residents a voice to respond to development proposals. The BUILD ACT could significantly change aspects of the local planning process by potentially limiting the role communities play in decision-making.”
Village officials said Westmont plans to adopt a resolution regarding the legislation and related housing initiatives.
The Illinois BUILD Act, formally known as House Bill 5626, would allow higher-density housing in areas traditionally zoned for single-family homes, expand accessory dwelling units, reduce minimum parking requirements near transit hubs, and limit certain municipal restrictions on multifamily construction.
Supporters of similar housing measures have argued they are designed to expand housing supply and improve affordability in high-demand areas, while critics contend they would weaken local zoning authority and alter the character of suburban communities.
Critics, including some local government officials, contend the proposal would weaken local zoning authority and reduce the ability of municipalities and residents to shape development within their communities.
Westmont joins a growing number of municipalities expressing concerns about the legislation as lawmakers continue to debate the proposal in Springfield.
The Illinois Municipal League, which represents all 1,294 cities, villages, and towns in the state, has led the opposition and circulated a model resolution that towns have adopted. The league has offered its own alternative, the Reducing Expenses and Advancing Local (REAL) Housing Act, an incentive-based plan it says would expand housing without preempting local zoning.
The bills remain pending; a Senate committee took testimony in late April without a vote, and the spring session ends May 31.
Would Pritzker's plan bring more government-subsidized housing to Westmont?
For many residents who packed recent board discussions, the technical debate over zoning preemption comes down to a simpler question: whether the bill would bring more federally subsidized housing — including Section 8 tenants — to Westmont.
Pritzker's proposal itself does not specifically mandate subsidized Section 8 or "affordable" housing.
But HB 5626 would make Section 8 expansion inevitable, deeming multi-unit buildings legal to construct "by right." The law would force single-family neighborhoods to allow apartments whose owners, by state law, aren't allowed to deny them to someone paying with a Section 8 voucher.
Illinois also has a separate law that continually pressures towns to add Section 8 housing.
The "Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act," or AHPAA, passed in 2003, requires municipalities where less than 10% of housing qualifies as "affordable" to adopt a plan to add more. Housing developers denied a permit for Section 8 projects in those towns can appeal to a state Housing Appeals Board that can override the local decision.
A 2023 amendment, effective January 2026, broadened who may file such an appeal to include "housing advocacy" organizations, who commonly work with the developers to promote Section 8 projects.
There are currently 44 municipalities, including Wayne, Burr Ridge, Hinsdale, Oak Brook and Elmhurst in DuPage County, that the state claims don't have enough "affordable housing." Westmont is not one of them.
Part of the concern reflects the demographic change that has reshaped many inner-ring Cook County suburbs over the past half-century.
In Section 8-heavy Bellwood, for example, U.S. Census figures show the village went from about 1% Black in 1970 to roughly 70% by 1990; as of the 2020 Census, it was about 68% Black and 27% Hispanic, with White residents under 3% of the population. Neighboring Maywood, also a Section 8 apartment hub, was about 60% Black and 34% Hispanic in 2020.
In a City Journal essay arguing for ending the Section 8 program, Manhattan Institute scholar Howard Husock wrote that the vouchers "ruin neighborhoods and perpetuate poverty," and reported that south suburban Cook County had absorbed a majority of the county housing authority's vouchers, citing residents and officials in towns such as Richton Park, Matteson and Riverdale who said the program imported disorder and pushed up local costs.
Critics of Pritzker's plan make a similar argument today: that mandating apartments in single-family areas, combined with Illinois' ban on "source-of-income discrimination," will channel more voucher-based housing into communities that now have little.