Since last fall, when the House Urban Revitalization Committee hosted hearings on the need for affordable housing in Illinois, the stature of this issue has gained prominence in the legislature, governor’s office and even on the national agenda.
In the Illinois General Assembly, Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Chicago) now
chairs the first committee in the House or Senate overseeing housing policy
matters. On Feb. 4, 2003, the Housing and Urban Development Committee had its inaugural
hearing, where MPC President MarySue Barrett testified alongside housing leaders from throughout the
state. Since then, both the committee and the entire House of Representatives
passed the Illinois Housing Initiative, HB 2345,
which addresses
many of the findings of the fall 2002 Illinois House Urban Revitalization
Committee hearings on State Housing Issues. Senator Jeffrey
Schoenberg, the Chief sponsor of this legislation, also presided over the hearings last fall. Those hearings found a
need for:
- a state housing policy with targeted priorities
- more efficient use of financial resources and
- more incentives for municipalities to implement plans on the local
level.
MPC was particularly pleased that the report on those hearings further
recommended that such incentives should utilize the Housing Endorsement Criteria (adopted by the Metropolitan
Mayors Caucus as part of its Housing Action Agenda).
A number of other interesting pieces
of housing-related legislation are also moving through the legislature.The
Statewide Rental Assistance Program, HB 2206, would create a new funding stream for rental
housing. The Housing Opportunity Tax Incentive Act, HB 2246, would offer incentives to property owners who rent to
families using Housing Choice Vouchers in opportunity areas where housing costs
are beyond the means of entry-level wage-earners. MPC also
continues its advocacy related to the implementation of the Local
Planning Technical Assistance Act , which updates the
definition of comprehensive plans to include housing, providing specific
language on how to do so while offering municipalities a competetive edge for
state resources as they produce housing which meets the needs of people who live
or work in their communities.
Housing stakeholders throughout the state are eager to see
how Gov. Rod Blagojevich will implement the recommendations of his
Transition Team Housing Committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and
staffed by MPC. Committee Vice
Chairs included former Chicago Alderman
Vilma Colom, Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans, Michael Goetz of Labor Home
Development Corporation, Robert Grossinger of LaSalle Bank, Mark Guethle of
Kane County Democrats, Kevin Jackson of the Chicago Rehab Network, Paul Roldan
of Hispanic Housing Development Corporation and Herb Rosenberg, a Chicago
attorney.
MPC is also
pleased to announce that Kelly King
Dibble, recently appointed director of the Illinois Housing Development
Authority, will speak with Rep. Rush at an MPC roundtable on the state of housing in Illinois
on
April 29, 2003. Click here for more information.
Despite proposed cutbacks at the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, Chicago area mayors are promoting the housing agenda of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Additionally,
Urban Land Institute recently featured the housing efforts of the
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Housing Task Force in the January edition of its
Urban Land magazine. The
article, entitled "The Chicago Effort," praises the strategy of the MMC Housing
Task Force not only for its voluntary and cooperative nature, but also for its
incorporation of physical planning and equity issues.