The NBOA opposes the proposed “Bring Chicago Home” tax increase.

Now that the City Council has voted to place the Bring Chicago Home Ordinance on the March, 2024 ballot, Chicago’s voters will decide whether or not to approve this tax increase.

NBOA’s opposition to the increased transfer tax increase remains as firm as ever.

This measure, which will increase the tax on property transactions from 0.75% to a new tiered system, with a 2% tax on the amount of a sale greater than $1 million, and a 3% tax on the amount of a sale greater than $1.5 million, will discourage investment in Chicago neighborhood multifamily housing. The tax does not recognize the numerous barriers already facing small to mid-sized housing providers: from unpredictable property taxes, to confusing legislation, to the threat that the State could lift the ban on rent control, to mounting expenses. These escalating expenses include insurance, labor, materials, energy and, of course, debt.

The NBOA has looked at dozens of apartment buildings across the city and found that the small and mid-sized buildings which neighborhood housing providers own and manage are likely to face the choice of losing value if they sell their building or raising rents—often as much as $100 a month—to recoup that tax penalty.

Learn more about the proposed ordinance, and its impact on Chicago’s struggling downtown, rents, property taxes, and the health of Chicago’s economy: read our white paper on the subject, and watch our Zoom discussion on the subject with top experts (from Tuesday September 26, 2023).