Aldermen seek hearing on proposed affordable housing/ Anti-gentrification ordinance

by Suzanne Hanney

Mayor Lori Lightfoot “has a lot of alignment” with the goals of the proposed Chicago Inclusive Housing Ordinance (CIHO), which would require developers to set aside different percentages of affordable housing for different neighborhoods, based on housing costs and gentrification pressures.

“This ordinance was drafted specifically with full knowledge of the [Department of Housing/DOH] inclusionary task force,” Ald. Maria Hadden (49th ward) said during a January 27 virtual press conference. “We had a conversation with the [Lightfoot] administration when it was introduced in December and January, but our goals have a lot of alignment. Specific elements are moving in the same direction.”

Hadden was joined by Alds. Byron Sigcho- Lopez (25th) and Matt Martin (47th) and advocates from ONE Northside and Access Living, who are seeking a hearing before the Chicago City Council’s Housing Committee. They say the proposal would reform the current Affordable Requirements Ordinance to achieve desegregation and help combat the looming eviction crisis.

Based on a DePaul University Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) report, the proposed ordinance would divide the city into low-, medium-, or high-cost areas, further segmented by displacement pressure due to rising housing costs. The ordinance would require developers to build the following percentages of affordable housing:

• 10 percent in lower-cost zones

• 20 percent in lower-cost zones vulnerable to displacement and moderate-cost zones

• 30 percent in moderate-cost zones vulnerable to displacement, high-cost zones and highcost zones vulnerable to displacement.

Englewood and West Englewood, South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing, were examples of lower-cost zones with previously stable prices, and people now vulnerable to displacement, according to IHS.

New City and Grand Boulevard neighborhoods served by the CTA Orange, Red and Green Lines, as well two census tracts near the proposed El Paseo, were deemed moderatecost/rising neighborhoods.

High-cost neighborhoods with previously affordable housing, and, thus, susceptible populations, were Irving Park and Addison just west

of the Kennedy Expressway/CTA Blue Line, West Town just south of Humboldt Park and the areas around the CTA Brown Line terminus in Albany Park and the 18th Street station on the Pink Line. Although they had moderate rents in 2017, these neighborhoods are now among the highest priced in the city, according to the DePaul IHS report, and “proactive planning is essential to preserving affordability.”

The DOH’s inclusionary housing task force found two problems with the present Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO). First, its units are targeted to people making at least 60 percent of the Area Median Income, or AMI, ($38,220 for a one-person household), which is unaffordable to more than 6 in 10 Black Chicago households and 5 in 10 Latinx households.

Second, the report noted that 75 percent of ARO units are studios and one-bedrooms, while the average Black household has 2.7 people and the average Latinx has 3.7. The CIHO would require 60 percent of units to be at least two-bedroom and 30 percent to be three-bedroom, with incentives for developers who create more.

In addition, half the units would have to be affordable to people earning 50 percent of AMI ($31,850), which is the median Latinx income. Another quarter of the units would have to be targeted to people at 20 percent AMI ($12,740) the annual income for a majority of disability recipients; the final quarter would be priced at 30 percent of AMI ($19,150), the median Black household income.

“The Department of Housing is committed to the creation and preservation of housing that is affordable for all throughout Chicago's 77 community areas,” Eugenia Orr, DOH director of public relations, said in an email response to a question about Lightfoot’s support. “To that end, the Inclusionary Housing Task Force continues to be instrumental as we work toward a new ARO that is rooted in the goals of reducing segregation, serving lower-income residents and larger household sizes, and providing increased accessibility. The next iteration of the ARO will focus on these shared goals and we look forward to continuing to work with aldermen, advocates, and other stakeholders to strengthen the inclusionary purpose of this tool.”

Ald. Maria Hadden (49th ward)

(City of Chicago Photos)

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopex (25th ward)

(City of Chicago Photos)

Matt Martin (47th ward)

(City of Chicago Photos)