Marketing Brief - BUILD Plan, LIHTC & $100M: What Developers Need Now
Every policy shift, project update, and funding window shaping Midwest urban development — February 2026.
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Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Courtyard Urbanism Enthusiast
A lot happened in February.
390–9 — House vote on the federal Housing for the 21st Century Act
$250M — Capital in the Illinois BUILD Plan, if it passes.
1.22M — Additional homes enabled by LIHTC expansion.
0.4% — The share of Edmonton RS-zoned lots that drove a record housing output.
On February 18, Governor Pritzker delivered something I did not expect to hear from an Illinois politician: a direct, substantive attack on single-family zoning. His Building Up Illinois Developments (BUILD) plan is the most significant state-level housing reform the Midwest has seen in a long time. Beyond Illinois, the federal Housing for the 21st Century Act passed the House 390–9. And the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law last summer, permanently expanded the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
The regulatory and financial environment for missing middle housing is better today than it has been in decades.
This month’s Market Brief covers:
The Big Picture — What February’s headline developments mean for courtyard-scale projects specifically
Policy Wins & Losses — Illinois BUILD, the federal housing bill, LIHTC expansion, Edmonton’s record results, and two things on the watch list
Projects in the Pipeline — California Forever’s labor deal, Chicago’s Missing Middle Initiative, and Broadway Cottage Courtyard
Funding & Financing Landscape — The $100M infrastructure provision I keep coming back to, where construction lending actually stands, and what it means for courtyard projects right now (Chronicle #2 subscribers: this is the section I teased in the PS)
CU Project Updates — Bennet Development in Ogden, our design partnership with Living Process, Carlton County, MN, and Brooklyn Center, MN
Opportunity Alerts — Four specific windows open right now
What I’m Reading & Thinking About
Here’s the in-depth report: