Chicago Mayor Suggests Compromise on Legalizing Granny Flats

A political detente over granny flats could reshape Chicago’s single-family zoning, with limits.

A long-delayed push to legalize accessory dwelling units citywide in Chicago headed to a vote today after Mayor Brandon Johnson and Alderman Bennett Lawson introduced a compromise aimed at easing opposition from single-family neighborhoods, Crain’s reported.

The amendment would allow coach houses, basement units and other so-called granny flats across Chicago without triggering full zoning map changes, but it includes annual limits on how many ADUs can be built per block in single-family zoned areas. Three zoning designations would be based on lot size, with one, two or three ADUs allowed, though aldermen could override those restrictions block by block within their wards.

Lawson and Johnson hope the caps will placate critics who feared the ordinance would transform stable bungalow blocks into multi-unit corridors overnight. The mayor previously backed a version with no geographic limits, but he acknowledged that version was unlikely to pass.

The proposal still requires that ADU builders live on the property themselves, another guardrail designed to address concerns about speculation and absentee ownership. Opponents like Alderman Marty Quinn, however, demanded that single-family areas be opted out of the program by default. He called the compromise “terrible.”

The ADU pilot program launched in 2021 and allowed secondary units in five targeted zones, but uptake has been limited. Just 373 permits were issued over four years, mostly concentrated in North Side neighborhoods like Logan Square and Lakeview. Advocates argue it’s proof the pilot’s patchwork rollout stifled demand and that a permanent citywide expansion could help unlock housing options for multigenerational families, renters and small-scale investors alike.

But resistance has remained strongest in the city’s Bungalow Belt, where single-family zoning is politically sacrosanct and critics warn that added density could erode neighborhood character, raise property taxes and strain infrastructure.

If passed by the Zoning Committee, the ordinance could still be delayed by procedural tactics on the City Council floor.

— Judah Duke