Chicagoans who show up at the polls on March 19 may not get the chance to authorize a fundamental change in tax policy to confront the longstanding problem of homelessness — at least not if a coalition of real estate and development groups have anything to say about it.
On Friday, the coalition filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court seeking to knock off the ballot the binding “Bring Chicago Home” referendum. That referendum would ask voters whether the City Council should be allowed to raise the real estate transfer tax on high-end property sales and use the proceeds to confront homelessness.
