The City of Chicago has an Affordable Requirements Ordinance that requires developers and building owners to provide affordable housing if they are requesting an upzone, either provide onsite housing for people earning 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) which is $37,440 for an individual or offsite for people who earn anywhere between 0 to 30% of the AMI, which is great for people who live paycheck to paycheck, many on SSI income with a monthly check of $783. The 46th Ward has more offsite affordable housing (Low Income Housing Trust Fund units) than the combined total of 28 other wards… no other ward in the City comes close to the amount of Low Income Housing Trust Fund units. Uptown also ranks #1 with having the most government affordable housing in the City of Chicago, more than the 76 other community areas in the City.
If the developer or owner is not requesting an upzone (i.e. Lawrence House or Bridgeview Bank Building), aldermen are forbidden to require the building owner to provide affordable rents. The Illinois State Constitution does not allow it. The same is true with requiring a community benefits agreement.
With the brand new Wilson L and all the work done to create public safety in the area (Uptown’s crime rate is the lowest ever recorded in its history), the area has become much more attractive to people with no cars, many of whom are recent college graduates with huge college debt. That is the problem…. when mass transit improves and violent crime goes down, any neighborhood will become more attractive to renters; and that’s the main driver of increased rents. The only legal recourse for any alderman is to maintain the current stock of government affordable housing (no government affordable housing has been lost) and try to build more (building government affordable housing is especially difficult because it’s often twice the cost of market-rate housing and it requires many layers of financing that is increasingly much harder to obtain).
There is a false perception that aldermen can simply demand building owners provide affordable rents or threaten to get building inspectors to descend upon the building owner. That approach is illegal, unethical, and the Illinois Constitution does not allow it. We must find ways to reduce the cost of affordable housing. The average price per unit is around $350,000 for an SRO, studio, 1-bedroom, or a 2-bedroom. We can buy 7 single family homes on the Southside for the price of 1 affordable apartment on the Northside. We can’t give up, but the issue is much more complicated and difficult than people realize. That said, the surrounding neighborhoods on the Northside also need to step up and do their part to provide affordable housing as well. We need and benefit with a greater mix of incomes in ALL neighborhoods, and clearly some are not stepping up to assist with this.
" Chicago faces a lack of affordable places to live"…come on, that is patently false. There is a virtually unlimited amount of affordable places to live on the south and west sides. The issue is that people don’t want to move to those areas and help improve them, they only want to live in prime locations.
If the activists fighting for affordable housing really wanted to make Chicago a better place to live for low and moderate income people, they would stop fighting development in Uptown and start fighting for more development and on the south and west sides.
There are many parts of this city that are still afforadable, relatively speaking. Market forces dictate rent prices, not nefarious real estate developers. Many of the same people that complain about lack of private investment in low-income neighborhoods then complain when it actually happens, since it results in the "wrong kind" of people moving moving in. Uptown is not becoming Lincoln Park any time soon.
Uptown is really due for some gentrification. It has quite a bit to offer; right next to the red line, right next to LSD, many beaches in the area and a bunch of parks, density, walkability, restaurants, even hospitals everywhere. Just moved away after renting for super cheap, if I wasn’t getting tired of being in the same neighborhood I would have bought there.
The debate over how Chicago should build affordable housing, explained
What sometimes gets lost is that there are advantages to both onsite and offsite affordable housing (when developers pay an in lieu fee).
Onsite rental goes to people earning 60% of the Area Median Income ($37,440 annual income for a single person and $53,460 for a family of 4).
Offsite housing goes to people who earn from 0 to 30% of the AMI ($18,750 annual income for a single individual and $26,750 for a family of 4). It’s the offsite housing that provides the rental subsidies for many who had been living on the streets. Those were the funds used to house many of the people living under the viaducts in the Uptown community. They would have never qualified for onsite affordable housing.
When we demand more money for onsite, then there’s less available rental subsidies for offsite. There must be a balance of both.
That’s pretty much any neighborhood. Robberies, burgularies, muggings, carjackings in Lakeview, Ukrainian village, Bucktown, Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, and even the recent shootings in the South loop. You should read their community boards, it’s chocked full of crime. West loop recently had string of burglaries and didn’t someone get shot a couple of months back?
Chicago’s new ride-hailing tax begins now, and it’s the country’s highest fee
Right theory, wrong implementation. The idea of using progressive taxes on Uber/Lyft to reduce downtown congestion and/or generate tax dollars on the most heavily trafficked routes/neighborhoods (which also encourages use of alternative and public transit) is totally fine, but the application here is off.
Uber/Lyft taxes should be high for rider’s generating short solo trips to/from downtown, lower for ride sharing trips, and tax rates should progress; higher for on peak hours during AM/PM rush, lower for off-peak hours and weekends. The taxes should get progressively lower as you move to the less dense / less transit heavy neighborhoods outside the loop. South Loop, West Loop, River North, Gold Coast should have a high tax rate, but less than the Loop, continue further out to Old Town, Wicker, Bucktown, Ukrainian Village, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and the tax should be less, continue further to Pilsen, Humboldt, Uptown, Roscoe Village, Hyde Park and the tax rate shouyld continue to dip and so on.
If you’re going to make progressive taxes, make them progressive, incentivize public transit to/from downtown and dense neighborhoods, and lower the tax burden for off-peak travel, off-peak travel times, and neighborhoods that are transit deserts.
Nah This is ridiculous. $1000 for "microapartments" in "Uptown". Can’t wait til the idiot developers realize what a waste of money it is for a declining city.
The only good thing for Chicago is that its impossible to get out of the 4th largest city complex
If you invested in this, I hope you lose a lot
A peek into Chicago’s Old Post Office, the largest adaptive reuse project in the nation
Love this!! My wish list of restorations has included the Old Main Post Office, the Schulze Bakery, Old Cook County Hospital, the Uptown, and the Guyon. Only one left to go on its restoration and reuse!!