Chicago policymakers have introduced measures to increase housing supply, in a move that local activists and construction industry stakeholders have hailed as key to easing affordability pressures on residents.
According to the city's 2025 annual report on homelessness, Chicago is facing its largest gap in affordable and available housing in a decade, with the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count estimating that 7,452 people were experiencing homelessness, either in shelters or unsheltered locations, on January 23, 2025.
Steven Vance, a social worker in Chicago, said policies that previously curbed the city's housing supply have pushed up rent costs amid demographic changes.
"Households are declining in size, and that means we need more homes, and I thought it was strange that we would artificially restrict how many homes could get built in Chicago. Right now in Chicago, we have one of the highest rent growths, compared year to year in the country, and so now is a pivotal time to allow more housing," he said.
To address the challenge, Chicago has introduced zoning and land-use reforms, including the Additional Dwelling Units (ADU) Ordinance, aimed at increasing residential density and expanding housing supply.
The ordinance effectively expands housing access across the city by allowing ADUs in attics, basements, and accessory buildings, easing the rent burden and creating more budget-friendly housing options.
"In December 2020, City Council adopted an ordinance that would legalize ADUs in five pilot areas. (With ADU,) rents will maybe not always come down, but they will not climb as quickly as they are now if we have more housing options," he said.
The construction sector in the city has welcomed the policy change, with builders jumping on the opportunity to create new structures. For many in the industry, boosting housing supply is not just about doing business, but about addressing the issue of affordability as Chicago residents themselves.
"The housing market in Chicago has been impacted by the ADU program, to me, in a really big way. It's enabled a lot more rental projects to be constructed. I want there to be more housing in Chicago. I think there is a need for that, and I think there's also a need for responsible development that maintains the character of the neighborhood. Affordable housing to me is a really important issue, and to me, the biggest denominator in affordable housing is the lack of supply. The best route to affordable housing is to have an influx of housing," said Nick Serra, a construction professional.
Chicago expands housing supply to ease affordability pressure
Major breakthroughs by Chinese scientists have laid the foundation for a future where space-based solar power stations are capable of wirelessly transmitting energy to Earth and spacecraft, though significant engineering problems remain.
A research team from Xidian University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has made significant progress on the Sun Chasing project, or "Zhuri" in Chinese. The team has developed a ground-based test system for wireless power transmission that can charge multiple moving targets at the same time.
In recent tests, the system achieved a wireless power transmission efficiency of 20.8 percent from direct current to direct current over a distance of 100 meters. It delivered 1,180 watts of power. The team has also built a wireless charging system for drones. In a test, a drone flying at 30 kilometers per hour was able to receive 143 watts of stable power from 30 meters away.
A space solar power station works exactly as its name suggests: a huge array of solar panels placed in orbit. It would collect sunlight in space, where the sun always shines, and then convert that energy into microwaves or lasers to beam down to Earth or directly to satellites and spacecraft. This could address two significant issues: supplying uninterrupted power for space missions and alleviating energy shortages on the ground.
"The construction of space solar power stations could become a major undertaking in the future. One potential benefit is access to a virtually unlimited power supply. Because energy can be collected continuously in space 24 hours a day, electricity could be supplied on an uninterrupted basis," said Fan Guanheng, an associate professor at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering at Xidian University.
"Secondly, it could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, thereby lowering carbon emissions and helping protect the environment. Thirdly, it could support the development of charging infrastructure in space and enable wireless microwave charging for spacecraft, changing the way power is supplied to space vehicles," the professor added.
In 2018, the research team launched the first phase of the Sun Chasing project to build a ground test system. By June 2022, they had completed the world's first full-link, full-system ground validation system for a space solar power station. Now, the team has moved to phase two. The goal now is to solve the challenges of generating high power in space and transmitting it efficiently over long distances.
According to Duan Baoyan, an expert at Xidian University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, recent breakthroughs include improving the efficiency of solar energy collection and conversion, increasing the precision of microwave beam control to reduce energy loss, and making the transmitting and receiving antennas smaller and lighter, which is critical for space application.
The team has also solved the problem of how to power multiple moving targets at once using a single transmitter. This means that in the future, one space power station could potentially supply electricity to several satellites or ground vehicles at the same time, Duan said.
Despite the advances in ground-based validation, a series of technical challenges must still be overcome before the technology can be deployed in space.
"The first issue that needs to be addressed is the adaptability of components to the space environment, as conditions in space are completely different from those on Earth, including radiation exposure and extreme temperatures. Another challenge involves the deployment and retraction design of transmitting and receiving antennas. We also need to develop thermal management systems to cope with extreme temperatures and temperature fluctuations in space. These are all areas where further breakthroughs are needed," said Qian Sihao, an associate professor at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering at Xidian University.
"We have now completed the development and validation of a ground-based test system, and our next step is to carry out in-orbit wireless microwave power transmission," Fan said.
With ground validation complete, the team now turns its attention to overcoming the harsh realities of space, aiming to demonstrate in-orbit wireless power transmission and bring the vision of orbital solar energy closer to reality.
Space-to-earth solar power moves closer to reality although hurdles remain: scientists
