Recognizing that Chicagoland’s jobs-housing mismatch is a region-wide problem that must be dealt with collectively, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus has approved a strategy to help communities evaluate and influence development, and address a range of regional housing challenges.
Representing the more than 270 municipalities in the six-county Chicago region, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus on Feb. 28, 2002 approved a Housing Action Agenda and its supporting Housing Endorsement Criteria. This is an historic step toward regional cooperation and expanding housing options near jobs and transit stops in metropolitan Chicago, and in tackling an issue often stalled due to stereotypes and other controversies.
“We are very pleased to have developed a Housing Action Agenda that we feel simultaneously addresses the priorities of both high job growth areas such as Palatine and the northwest suburbs, as well as reinvestment communities such as Riverdale,” said Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins, co-chair of the Caucus Housing Task Force.
Added co-chair Mayor Zenovia Evans of Riverdale, “establishing the Criteria was our first major achievement — illustrating housing as central to economic and community development efforts.”
"The passage of the Housing Endorsement Criteria is a victory for local governments and their residents by helping them take more control over the development process and the types of housing welcomed into communities,” said David Bennett, executive director of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), which serves as partner to the new Housing Task Force, worked closely with the mayors to finalize the Housing Action Agenda and the Housing Endorsement Criteria. The Chicago area is under-producing needed multi-family housing compared to other midwestern regions. This is largely due to the challenges mayors face at a community level since there is no state housing policy or other guidelines promoting a full range of quality housing options. Through this new MMC Housing Task Force, Local leaders are taking it upon themselves to think about housing from both a local and a regional perspective.
MPC salutes the leadership, cooperation and vision demonstrated by the mayors' Housing Action Agenda.
Established by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1997 to address issues that affect the entire six-county metropolitan Chicago region, the Mayors Caucus is a partnership between the City of Chicago and nine suburban councils of government. These nine COGs include the DuKane Valley Mayors and Administrators, the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference, the Lake County Municipal League, the McHenry County Municipal Association, the Northwest Municipal Conference, the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, the Southwest Conference of Mayors, the West Central Municipal Conference and the Will County Governmental League.
This article was adapted from a press release written by Jessica Rocha.