On March 19th, Chicagoans will get to vote directly on Bring Chicago Home–a ballot question that would create a permanent source of funding for affordable housing and service to combat homelessness! ONE People’s Campaign has endorsed the Bring Chicago Home referendum because we believe housing is a human right and no child should have to spend a Chicago winter night outside. We believe the people and corporations who are able to buy properties over $1 million can afford to pay more through a one-time tax to make sure everyone in our city has a safe, accessible, and affordable place to call home.
We need hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans to VOTE YES on Ballot Question 1 on March 19th. The best way to accomplish that is through a people-powered campaign to talk to as many people as we can.It’s up to all of us to make sure our neighbors know about Ballot Question 1 and why it is important to VOTE YES for a fair share for affordable housing on March 19th!
What is Bring Chicago Home?
Bring Chicago Home is a coalition formed in 2018 around a proposal to address homelessness by creating a dedicated stream of funding for affordable housing and services. What the proposal would do is restructure the city’s real estate transfer tax (the one-time sales tax paid when a property is bought) so that anyone buying a property for under $1million would pay a lesser rate (0.60% instead of 0.75%) and anyone buying a property for over $1million and $1million would pay a marginally higher rate (2% and 3%). All the funds from the real estate transfer tax would be dedicated toward affordable housing and supportive services to prevent homelessness.
After years of organizing to create a dedicated stream of funding to address homelessness by amending the real estate transfer tax, the Bring Chicago Home coalition successfully lobbied City Council to put a question to authorize the restructuring of the real estate transfer tax on the ballot. The ballot question is a necessary legal step in order to pass an ordinance in City Council to implement Bring Chicago Home’s proposal.
To Get Involved:
There are many ways to get involved! You can sign up to phone-bank or do door-to-door canvassing with ONE People’s Campaign and our coalition partners here!
Also, we are holding a video contest to spread the word about Bring Chicago Home on social media. If you submit a video, you will be entered into a drawing for ONE Northside t-shirts, and a chance to be featured in our blog. The rules are simple:
- Submit a short video (1 minute max) answering the question “Why do I support Bring Chicago Home?”
- We especially want personal testimonies, mentioning if you or someone you know has experienced homelessness
- This video could be shot on any video camera, could be a phone, computer, or fancy video camera
- Good light, so we can see your face. Good sound, so we can hear your voice
- If you need help creating this video, let us know! Help is available.
- Horizontal/Landscape view only (this is so we can edit it together with other videos)
If you need help creating this video, let us know! Help is available.
Send video submissions to Communications Manager Marie Rowley at mr*****@on**********.org, subject line: BCH Video