Community Leaders Rally for Revenue, Schools, and Equitable Housing

Neighbors & community leaders band together to protect their neighborhood.

On May 28, Association House and LUCHA joined dozens of neighbors outside Avondale Elementary School for a rally organized by Palenque LSNA. The rally called on Governor JB Pritzker to reconsider the impact of the proposed BUILD Act on affordable housing and working families in Chicago neighborhoods.

Parents, educators, students, organizers, and local leaders came together to voice concerns that the legislation, as currently written, could accelerate displacement and gentrification by allowing market-rate housing developments to move forward without affordability requirements or meaningful community input.

The rally highlighted the direct connection between housing stability and strong neighborhood schools. Organizers pointed to the ongoing loss of affordable housing in communities like Logan Square, which lost nearly 45 percent of its low-income households between 2013 and 2023. As families are priced out, schools lose enrollment, funding, and long-standing community ties.

Speakers also emphasized the growing pressures facing working families, including threats to school funding, healthcare access, food assistance, and housing supports. Organizers called on state leaders to raise new revenue by taxing the wealthy instead of cutting resources that communities rely on to survive and thrive.

Members of the Association House & LUCHA teams joined Palenque LSNA to rally for affordable housing.

The event was joined by 26th Ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes, who stood alongside organizers and residents advocating for policies that preserve affordable housing and protect longtime communities from displacement. Fuentes and other elected officials also pointed to the success of efforts like the Here to Stay Land Trust, which remains significantly underfunded despite its proven impact.

Estella Revelorio, a parent mentor at Avondale-Logandale School, criticized the BUILD proposal, arguing it would accelerate displacement in Latino communities. “This bill would allow developers to build more luxury housing while taking away local control,” Revelorio said. “That will raise rents and push more families out.”

She also spoke about the impact displacement has on children and schools.

“When families are displaced, children have to start over again and again,” she said. “Schools suffer when enrollment drops. We urge Governor Pritzker to listen to Latino families.”

Mia Carbajal of the Here to Stay Community Land Trust said communities are already creating solutions through local organizing, community land trusts, and affordable housing developments like Encuentro Square. “The housing crisis is real, and we do need more housing,” Carbajal said. “But deregulation alone will not solve this crisis.”

“Housing policy should not only ask how much housing we build,” she added. “It should ask who gets to live in the housing we build.”

Pilsen Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez warned that the BUILD proposal could increase gentrification in working-class neighborhoods across Chicago.

“People are tired of being priced out of their communities,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “Talking about density without affordability will only lead to more displacement.”

Speakers ended the rally by calling for housing solutions rooted in racial equity, affordability, and community control, not policies they say prioritize developers over longtime residents. ■