Michael Burns, left, adjusts the jacket of his mother, Carla Johnson, a formerly homeless volunteer with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, before they canvass the North Lawndale neighborhood together on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. The coalition is urging residents to vote in favor of the “Bring Chicago Home” referendum on the upcoming primary ballot.
Stories like those are at the heart of a longtime drive by a coalition of Chicago homeless advocates who believe raising the real estate transfer tax on higher-end sales is the best way to secure steady funding for housing and social services. Judge Kathleen Burke’s ruling is a potentially devastating, unilateral wrinkle for the grassroots campaign that has been pinning its hopes on an impressive ground game, with the help of volunteers like Burns stumping for support as the very Chicagoans who would benefit most from the referendum.
Crystal Garnder, Deputy Political Director for SEIU Local 73, backs the “Bring Chicago Home” referendum and objects to the outcome of a hearing at the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024.A couple weeks before the favorable court ruling, Bring Chicago Home opponent and longtime political operative Greg Goldner struck a somber tone in a video conference with business interests and politicians. He knew he was up against formidable adversaries.
It is one of three campaign groups created to oppose the referendum. Leaders from the conservative Illinois Policy Institute started the “Vote No on Chicago Real Estate Tax” committee in February, its sole funder being recorded as another 501c4 that shares the same office. The top contributions to the End Homelessness fund included about $500,000 from the Michael Reese Health Trust; just under $350,000 from State Power Fund, an Ohio-based national nonprofit focused on racial justice and equity issues; more than $260,000 from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless; and $200,000 each from SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana and the Chicago Teachers Union.
After negotiations during the summer, the Johnson administration secured City Council approval of a different version that slightly reduced the tax charged on the first $1 million in value — to 0.6% — while increasing the marginal rate on properties valued between $1 million and $1.5 million to 2%, and boosting the marginal rate even more on properties valued above $1.5 million, to 3%.
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