What We Choose Not to Build Still Shapes Us

Originally published in the REALTOR® Association of the Fox Valley newsletter. Republished here as part of Neeley Erickson’s Policy Commentary series.

Housing is one of the most important policy conversations happening across our country right now.

The concerns are familiar. Local control. Density. Property values. Gentrification.

Those concerns are real, and they should be part of the conversation. What is often missing is how they connect and how each is shaped by housing supply and access.

Illinois is short more than 140,000 housing units today, with demand expected to reach more than 225,000 units in the next five years. The need is likely even greater. Nearly 35 percent of adults ages 18 to 35 in Illinois are still living with their parents. Many of these individuals are not counted as independent housing demand because we often measure need through existing households, not through the people trying to access housing but cannot yet afford it.

At the same time, 84 percent of Illinois voters say housing costs are a problem, and 67 percent say there are not enough affordable homes.

Affordability is clearly part of the conversation. The challenge is understanding how it connects to supply and access.

For decades, zoning decisions have narrowed the types of housing that can be built. Larger minimum lot sizes, parking requirements, and restrictions on duplexes, townhomes, and small multi-unit housing have made many of the homes that once existed in communities harder to build today.

Housing is not just about structures. It is about access to schools, jobs, transportation, healthcare, and opportunity.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination, but it does not require housing to be affordable. Access to housing and access to opportunity are still closely tied to what people can afford and what communities allow to be built.

Concerns about property values and displacement are often at the center of this conversation, and they deserve serious attention. Research, including analysis from Pew, has found no evidence that modest increases in housing supply reduce nearby property values. In many cases, adding housing helps stabilize prices by reducing pressure in tight markets.

Concerns about displacement and gentrification are real, but limiting housing supply does not prevent those outcomes. In many cases, it increases pressure by driving up costs and reducing options for existing residents.

This is why the BUILD Plan matters.

It is not the elimination of local control or a dramatic shift in zoning authority. At its core, it is a framework for creating clearer standards, more predictable outcomes, and broader housing access.

In practice, that means communities supporting housing types like duplexes, accessory dwelling units, townhomes, and smaller multi-unit housing in places where they make sense, while maintaining local authority over design, infrastructure, and planning decisions.

Local governments continue to decide where housing goes, what gets built, and how development fits within their communities through local control of zoning, design, infrastructure, and permitting decisions.

What changes is predictability. Housing development works best when there are clear standards, reliable data, and a process people can understand and trust.

This conversation is also about how people live today and what the market is producing. Household sizes have declined, but the amount of space built per person has grown significantly. In the 1950s, the average U.S. home was 983 square feet. Today, that number is closer to 2,400 square feet.

That shift reflects a system that has made larger homes easier to build, while limiting smaller and more attainable options.

Housing is a statewide challenge, and solving it requires shared responsibility. The question is not whether growth happens. It is whether we shape it intentionally or allow scarcity to shape it for us.

What one community chooses not to build affects everyone. It shapes who can live where, what people pay, and how opportunity is distributed.

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Strong housing policy begins with clear data, thoughtful collaboration, and a shared commitment to expanding opportunity for every community.

—Neeley Erickson

Neeley Erickson is a Government Affairs Director specializing in housing policy, local governance, and community development across Illinois. Her work focuses on advancing practical solutions that expand housing opportunity and strengthen communities.