Access Living friends and allies,
Do you live in Chicago? Are you voting in the Illinois Primary on March 19? Make a difference by supporting Bring Chicago Home on your ballot.
The Bring Chicago Home Initiative is about improving services for homeless persons in the City of Chicago.
Each year, Chicago sees tens of thousands of people who do not have a permanent place to stay. People living with homelessness end up staying with others, staying in shelters, living on the streets, or a combination. Access Living fields calls for help from many people in this situation, who are looking for housing that is not only affordable, but also accessible.
We urge every voter in Chicago to support the Bring Chicago Home question.
As a non-profit, we cannot take partisan positions, but in the case of ballot referendum questions, those questions are not partisan. Every voter can choose yes or no. Along with fellow advocacy and service groups, we are approached every single day by disabled people who are homeless and/or couch surfing, who desperately need a place to stay. We can and should do better in Chicago.
Please join us in voting YES on March 19! And, don’t forget to help educate your friends and families by having them visit www.bringchicagohome.org. If you have questions for Access Living about Bring Chicago Home, please contact our Housing Organizer, Iliana Rivera Haven at irhaven@accessliving.org.
I’m voting ‘Yes’ to Bring Chicago Home on March 19 to improve Chicago homelessness services for our unhoused neighbors. We can do better.
Tweet
Background
Bring Chicago Home is a multi-step campaign seeking to put homeless services in front of every voter in Chicago.
Step 1. Structure Bring Chicago Home as a ballot referendum so every voter in Chicago can vote yes or no for it. (The reason that this has to happen is that the City of Chicago does not currently have the power to restructure the real estate transfer tax (RETT) that will create the funds for Bring Chicago Home.
Step 2. Get Bring Chicago Home on the March 19 ballot. (This was accomplished last fall by getting the Bring Chicago Home ballot referendum ordinance through the Chicago City Council.)
Step 3. VOTE.
“Do you approve the that Chicago’s City Council can have the power to raise the real estate transfer tax for sellers of high-end properties?”
To support Bring Chicago Home, vote YES.
Understanding the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) + Bring Chicago Home
At the core of the campaign is a process called the real estate transfer tax (RETT). This is a tax that property sellers must pay when they sell their property. Bring Chicago Home would restructure the RETT so that people selling properties of $1 million or less would see their RETT decrease, and people selling properties of more than $1 million would see their RETT increase. Doing this would end up creating a pool of over $100 million that could be spent on homeless services and affordable housing.
Thank you for your advocacy, and don’t forget to check out the job postings below!
Current Job Openings at Access Living
Community Development Organizer – Disability and Racial Justice
Diversion & Reentry Policy Analyst
Gun Violence Independent Living Navigator
(Part-Time) Gun Violence Survivors Peer Support Coordinator
Independent Living Technology Program (ILTP) Coordinator