Mayor Brandon Johnson talks a lot about how his administration is dedicated to jump-starting homebuilding in a city desperate for more residential units.

And yet all too often city government’s actions don’t match the rhetoric. The latest example is a proposed ordinance that has been lingering in the City Council for months, which would allow for more construction of so-called granny flats — units added to existing single-family homes, duplexes and the like by refurbishing basements and building coach houses atop garages, among other methods.

Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, have been identified by those on all sides of the political spectrum, including this page, as an important part of alleviating Chicago’s housing shortage. But, like other policies or projects that would add housing stock, the ADU initiative is stumbling on an issue that ought to have nothing to do with its passage — ensuring people who do the construction work are unionized.

The council is scheduled next week to vote on the issue. There are two competing proposals, one by 44th Ward Ald. Bennett Lawson that would establish ADUs as a permitted use by right in all residential zones, subject to approval by the zoning administrator with additional limits on how many can be built annually in single-family zones. Lawson’s aim is to address concerns of aldermen in wards dominated by single-family homes that there would still be oversight. But those aldermen object to being sidelined in the approval process.

Ald. Marty Quinn, 13th, one of those opponents, has an alternative that would allow aldermen to put the kibosh on ADUs in their wards, and cleverly includes a separate union-backed proposal that would require contractors building ADUs to use apprenticeship programs. Politically potent trade unions such as Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers support Quinn’s apprentice proposal and are pressuring the council to add that requirement, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

It’s unclear whether there are enough votes for either alternative, and the union intrusion into the issue has further complicated the political equation. What’s clear to us is that, as in other housing-related issues, the urgent need for more residential development shouldn’t be held captive to aldermen’s zeal to help unions bolster their membership rolls.

In the specific case of granny flats, a requirement of any kind to use unionized labor is unwarranted and potentially counterproductive. These by definition are small projects, and imposing those sorts of requirements on contractors likely will reduce competition for such work, as well as raise prices. That, in turn, is likely to reduce the number of ADUs, lessening the impact these onesies and twosies might have on alleviating the city’s housing crisis.

Surely, there’s a compromise that could give aldermen in wards like the 13th on the Southwest Side some say about where and how many granny flats are allowed without giving them carte blanche to simply disallow ADUs throughout their wards. And unions ought not be part of the discussion.

Speaking of which, we wrote in May about a proposal to build three apartment towers in River West, which together would add 2,450 units, including nearly 500 affordable units. The council has yet to vote on what should be a no-brainer because former 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett was trying to force Canadian developer Onni Group to help unions organize the staff at other Chicago buildings Onni owns. Onni thus far has refused and insisted the council vote on its River West proposal without any such separate “labor peace” agreement.

Outrageously, the standoff persists and the proposal still is pending. That project soon will be the responsibility of Burnett’s son, Walter “Red” Burnett, whom the mayor has nominated to fill his father’s seat. If the younger Burnett wants to show that he truly is his own man, as he insists he is, removing organized labor’s brick on Onni’s development would be a good way to demonstrate it.

So far, despite all the talk, Johnson and aldermen have shown themselves unserious about solving the housing crisis. They ought to stop the political games and give the city action rather than more hot air.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/editorial-granny-flats-adus-housing-crisis-chicago/