CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --A state appellate court panel has put Chicago's real estate transfer tax plan back on the March 19 ballot.
The ruling handed on Wednesday reverses a lower court ruling saying the Bring Chicago Home referendum was unconstitutional.
Max Bever, Director of Public Information with the Chicago Board of Elections said that "the initial judgment of the Circuit Court of Cook County is vacated, and the case is remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction."
All votes cast for the referendum will be counted and reported by the Chicago Board of Elections on election night.
The decision is being hailed as a big victory for advocates for the homeless.
"Our longstanding coalition of policy advocates, service providers, labor unions, and homeless and formerly homeless people commend the judges of the First District Appellate Court for dismissing the real estate lobby’s effort to invalidate Ballot Question 1," said Maxica Williams, Chair of the End Homelessness Ballot Initiative Committee and Board President of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
"We look forward to keeping up our efforts to reach hundreds of thousands of voters about their opportunity to vote yes for a fair and sustainable plan to fund housing, care for the homeless, and ask wealthy real estate corporations to pay their fair share."
The appellate judges criticized the way Judge Kathleen Burke handled the case. She invalidated the question on February 23 and ruled in favor of the Building Owners and Managers Association. According to that decision, the question would remain on ballots, but votes would not be counted or reported.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has been behind raising the Real Estate Transfer tax to help the homeless all along, is pleased.
"I've said all along that the people of Chicago should determine how we address the unhoused crisis in Chicago and I made a commitment not just as a candidate but as mayor of the city of Chicago and I will do everything in my power to move us closer towards housing for all," he said.
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