Illinois 2024 primary: Bring Chicago Home faces major ballot test, appears headed for defeat

CHICAGO (WLS) -- After months of work and millions of dollars spent, the Bring Chicago Home referendum to restructure real estate transfer taxes to benefit Chicago's unhoused population appears headed for defeat.

The small progressive army of union workers, public school teachers and advocates for Chicago's unhoused populations fanned out across the city in force Tuesday, trying to drive up votes for the ballot referendum.

But through the night, the "Yes" votes trailed the "No" votes consistently by about 8%, leaving the measure looking unlikely to pass.

Many of the supporters arriving at International Sports in North Austin for the election night party were also those responsible for getting the referendum on the ballot and campaigned heavily for it to pass.

A pet project of the Chicago progressive movement for years, some said they were frustrated by Tuesday's results, but vowed to make sure that every mail-in vote was counted before declaring victory or defeat.

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Bring Chicago Home proposed creating three tax brackets for property sales, applied to sales below $1 million, between $1 million and $1.5 million, and over $1.5 million.

Property sales under $1 million would see a slight cut to their transfer tax, while properties over $1 million and $1.5 million would be taxed at an increased rate on revenue over the respective benchmark.

It was a grassroots progressive effort built from scratch to create a reliable source of revenue for social services and affordable housing.

While the race has not yet been called, the president of the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance, which opposed the referendum, released a statement saying, "While the results for this race may not be final, the passion of both sides is clear: we all want to make Chicago a better place to live.

"As neighborhood housing providers, we are responsible for 70% of the city's affordable housing, and we want to work with the City to find real solutions that benefit neighborhood housing and grow Chicago's supply of naturally occurring affordable housing."

Corey Oliver with the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance said his biggest concern about Bring Chicago Home was that it might destabilize rent for tenants in affordable housing like the kind he provides, driving rent up to cover the increased tax.

Progressive Democrats say the increase tax revenue will generate a multimillion dollar fund for programs and affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness in Chicago.

"I shouldn't have 30,000 Chicago Public Schools students that are homeless, and we also have other residents that are unhoused and so we need the resources to be able to make sure that we respectfully house people," said 4th Ward Ald. Lamont Robinson.

But real estate developers, landlords and business groups opposed the referendum.

"The long-standing impact isn't just about affordable housing, it's about building communities and we're not going to be able to do that with taxes like this," said Rhi Prasad, president of commercial sales for Optoin Realty Group.

READ MORE: IL Supreme Court denies appeal of counting votes for controversial Bring Chicago Home referendum

Multi-million dollar commercial real estate is plodding through a pandemic-induced slog, developers say.

The nonpartisan Civic Federation reviewed the proposed transfer tax increase.

"The downtown loop commercial real estate market will bear double the burden of what it previously or currently is bearing in relation to all real estate transfer taxes," federation president Joe Ferguson said their review found.

After an unsuccessful court battle to keep the transfer tax increase off the ballot, its fate could hinge on the small percentage of primary voters who weigh in.