The Greenest, Most Affordable Housing Is the Housing We Already Have

By Jack Markowski - 6 October 2025

As Chicago debates the future of Broadway in Edgewater, one simple truth is being overlooked: the greenest housing is the housing we already have. Every time we demolish an existing building and replace it with new construction, we incur an enormous carbon cost. The embodied energy in brick,wood, and concrete — all the materials that went into our older buildings — is lost, and the emissions from producing and transporting new materials are added to the atmosphere. Preservation isn’t nostalgia; it’s climate policy.

But environmental impact is only half the story. Existing housing is also our city’s most affordable housing; it’s called Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing. The one to three-story buildings that line Broadway provide naturally affordable homes for working families, seniors, and young people; they also house a vast array of locally owned businesses. When those buildings are replaced by upscale new developments, the result isn’t a wider range of choices — it’s higher rents and fewer options for current residents and businesses...

Supporters of upzoning claim that allowing taller, denser private developments will eventually lower rents on Broadway and throughout Edgewater. That theory -- a “trickle down” approach to housing -- depends on an unrealistic assumption: that private developers will build so much market-rate housing that supply vastly outstrips demand. In fact, in Chicago this has never proven to be true. There is not a single instance where development has led to price reductions in a local housing market. In Edgewater, a thriving and desirable community, this will never happen. Prices won’t drop until the neighborhood loses the very qualities that make people want to live here...

Preserving existing housing and protecting local businesses isn’t just about saving old buildings. It’s about protecting affordability, reducing emissions, and keeping neighborhoods like Edgewater strong.

Jack Markowski is the former Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Housing and former President /CEO of the Community Investment Corporation, the Chicago area's leading lender for affordable rental housing.