Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday checked a major item off his progressive to-do list: groundbreaking power to build affordable housing without federal help.

By a 30-18 vote, the City Council approved Johnson’s “ green social housing ” plan to create a city-owned, nonprofit developer that would issue $135 million in loans to developers who build affordable housing and sell their environmentally-friendly buildings back to the city.

Finance Committee Chair Pat Dowell (3rd) has been dead-set against mayor’s plan because the financing structure —70% of the units would be market rate and 30% would be affordable — means that the new housing would be built in “affluent” neighborhoods — virtually bypassing, for at least a decade, “marginalized” African American communities that need the most help.

That’s how long it would take to build up the revolving fund to the point where money could be redirected “to subsidize, even deeper, those areas that are not going to benefit from this strategy,” Dowell said this week. “The only way the base can be built up is by having lots of development in the more affluent parts of the city.”

But as it turned out, Johnson didn’t need Dowell’s support.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) attends a Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall Wednesday.

The mayor’s plan sailed through a joint Council committee, and then the full Council, in rapid-fire succession on the same day.

The final debate included only one naysayer: Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), one of the mayor’s most vocal Council critics.

Beale said he didn’t buy the mayor’s argument that “the sky is falling and we need to hurry up and do something” before President Donald Trump pulls the rug out from under federal housing subsidies.

“We have a $1.3 billion deficit coming down the pike this fall, and we’re creating jobs that are over $100,000,” Beale said of the new arm of city government.

“We’re gonna have to be cutting jobs and cutting pay in order to meet our obligations come this fall. ... Some of y’all think this is a great idea,” Beale continued. “But the timing of this great idea is not good because of the deficit we’re gonna be staring down this fall. And we’re adding to the deficit right now with this vote.”

Beale noted there have been three committee meetings in the last month on the green social housing measure. That’s how determined Johnson appeared to be when it came to scoring points with his progressive base before celebrating his two-year anniversary in office.

“What’s that tell y’all? We’re in a hurry. We’re in a hurry to get this done. Why?” Beale asked.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) speaks during a City Council meeting at City Hall Wednesday.

Housing Committee Chair Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) spoke in favor of the mayor’s ordinance, only after the final vote was announced.

“We are in a crisis. Our city is under attack. We do need to develop solutions,” Sigcho-Lopez told his colleagues. “We have a housing crisis that demands urgency from City Council members. I’m glad we were able to work together on this, and I look forward to hear other options in terms of housing. [But] today is a good day for the city of Chicago.”

During the joint committee meeting that preceded the final vote, Budget Committee Chair Jason Ervin (28th) said he “fully recognized” that green social housing is “not designed for every community.”

But he said, “We should be trying to help as many people as possible. …These are things that can help alleviate the affordability challenge that is plaguing the city.”

The most impassioned plea for the mayor’s plan came from Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), the City Council dean who doubles as Johnson’s handpicked Zoning Committee chair.

Burnett said he represents “one of the highest crime areas of the city” in West Humboldt Park, where there are low-income areas as well as $750,000 homes being built. The same phenomenon is spreading to the West Side’s 37th and 29th wards.

It’s “pricing people out of this city,” Burnett said.

“We may say that, ‘This is not for my area,’ but let me tell you something: If we don’t get ahead of it and have a tool in place that’s gonna be able to stabilize and have some affordability housing built in those communities, we’re gonna be left behind,” Burnett said. “If not now, when? That’s my question.”