Chicago’s Brandon Johnson is caught in a housing trap
Chicago Mayor Johnson's ambitious social housing agenda faces a steep climb. Mount Holyoke Class of 1926 Professor of Politics Preston H. Smith II analyzes the political traps and developer interests threatening the city's progressive housing vision.
In an article for Jacobin, Mount Holyoke College Class of 1926 Professor of Politics Preston H. Smith II evaluates the mid-term progress of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s housing agenda, specifically the Green Social Housing (GSH) ordinance passed in May 2025. Smith argues that while Johnson entered office as a progressive champion, he is currently caught in the “contradiction of urban governance”: the need to accommodate the powerful finance, insurance and real estate sectors while attempting to provide for the working class.
The GSH initiative is the administration’s primary tool to combat a shortage of 119,000 affordable units. It seeks to break patterns of segregation by mandating the availability of affordable units in affluent areas, such as Lincoln Park. However, despite being branded as a social housing plan, it still relies heavily on private developers and market incentives rather than direct municipal production.
Smith warns that this reliance on private capital, combined with the earlier defeat of the “Bring Chicago Home” referendum, limits Johnson’s ability to enact truly radical reform. He concludes that for Johnson to succeed in his remaining two years and improve his 31% approval rating, his administration must mobilize its labor-backed base to overcome the structural “trap” of neoliberal urban policy.
Read the full article.
