View our presentation from the community session
Rezone to make it easier to build missing-middle housing across Oak Park and more housing along commercial corridors
Support Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) developments (federally subsidized housing)
Protect Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) by supporting landlords in making capital improvements
Strengthen Tenant Associations and Holding Landlords Accountable
Expand the revenue sources for the Housing Trust Fund
Measure and Evaluate: The Village should adopt a racial equity impact assessment to review progress against affordability goals.
Social Housing: In Vienna, Austria, approximately 50 percent of the city’s 1.9 million residents live in housing that is owned by the city itself (200,000 units) or built and managed by mission-driven organizations (another 200,000 units). While this model has received criticism for failing to support the lowest income households and it is very expensive to maintain, the NYT described it as a renter utopia where renters pay only 4% of their pretax income towards rent. For context, this is about what Americans pay annually on dining out. In cities and suburbs where housing is hard to come by, a lot of Americans pay more than 30% of their rent on housing (including here in Oak Park)
Tenant Power: Residents of Lake View Towers property in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood successfully purchased their building from the nonprofit that was managing the building back in 2001 and, 21 years later, bought land adjacent to the building by utilizing a HUD refinance of their Lake View Towers which provided $10 million in excess proceeds, and allowed the residents to acquire the land for $5 million. The residents then donated the remainder of the proceeds to construction costs and worked closely with local affordable housing developer, Brinshore Development, to complete a low-income housing tax credit application to obtain federal subsidies for the project. The project will be 100% affordable rental building restricted to seniors. It will be jointly owned by the residents and Brinshore.
Local Housing Agency turned Public Housing Owner: Montgomery County in Maryland has one of the best school districts in the country and some of the most progressive housing policies. In addition to a strong inclusionary housing ordinance, it also buys and manages private units within developments to keep rents low.
The Environmental Case for Urban Density: Not only is increasing density in Oak Park beneficial for affordability, but it is also necessary for climate policy. Greater density in villages like Oak Park diminishes the need for increased suburban sprawl and supports alternatives to car-orientated societies by focusing on increased population centers near transit.
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