Read the report: “Improving Housing Affordability in Champaign County: Ways to Fix the Local Housing Shortage”
Executive Summary
Champaign County, Illinois is facing a housing shortage that has caused home prices and rents to rise, leaving many families unable to find or afford housing. The median sales price of a home in Champaign County has increased by 14 percent over the past year and 44 percent of renters in the county are “cost-burdened,” spending 30 percent or more of their incomes on housing.
Housing affordability has worsened in Champaign County, but the area remains more affordable than the rest of the United States. As of July 2025:
- Champaign County’s average home value was $224,000, up 37 percent since 2019.
- Champaign County’s average rent was over $1,300 per month, up 41 percent since 2019.
- Both home values and rental rates are lower in Champaign County than the U.S. average ($360,000 and about $2,000 per month, respectively).
Champaign County’s housing shortage has been driven by demand, supply, and regulatory factors.
- Champaign County has experienced robust economic growth, with employment increasing by 6 percent and gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by 32 percent from 2015 to 2023.
- Champaign County now has a record 84,000 households, up 5 percent since 2015.
- Active listings of homes for sale in Champaign County are 73 percent lower than in 2019.
- Champaign County has only had about 600 building permits for new homes annually since 2021, down 51 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
- Restrictive zoning laws and lengthy permitting timelines have limited new developments and delayed housing construction projects.
Champaign County currently faces a shortage of 3,000 homes and needs to build 4,400 units over the next five years to keep pace with demand.
- Champaign County needs 3,000 more homes to address current demand and pent-up demand from “missing households” that would otherwise form under favorable market conditions.
- Resolving the shortage and accounting for future growth means that Champaign County needs to build about 900 homes annually over the next five years, which would represent a return to pre-pandemic levels.
Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County, a nonprofit organization founded in 1991, offers a local case study for successfully delivering affordable housing units.
- The organization has built 1,350- to 1,450-square-foot homes and sold them at an average of $150,000 with 0 percent interest to 144 low-income families.
- A 2025 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign survey found that families in Habitat for Humanity homes had improved abilities to pay off debts and manage bills, experienced better sleep quality, and reported improved school attendance and grades for school-aged children.
To boost housing supply and make housing more affordable, State and local officials could:
- Increase grant funding for nonprofit organization and create a low-interest loan for developers who build affordable housing units to alleviate the shortage for low-income families.
- Provide lower-income renters with tax credits to address the affordability crisis.
- Ease zoning restrictions to expand housing construction and enable greater density.
- Fast-track permitting processes to reduce costly delays in new home construction.
- Establish tax incentives to convert more commercial buildings into residential units.
The data shows that enacting popular, bipartisan policy solutions can resolve the housing shortage and improve affordability for current and future residents.
Read the report: “Improving Housing Affordability in Champaign County: Ways to Fix the Local Housing Shortage”
