Governor's Housing Task Force moving forward - Metropolitan Planning Council

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Governor's Housing Task Force moving forward

Six committees are charged with building on the recommendations of the Housing Committee advising Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Transition Team, and plan to produce reports and recommendations by May 2004.

The Task Force created by executive order to implement Illinois' first housing policy, as signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Sept. 16, 2003, is getting down to business and has organized itself into six working committees. The 35-member Task Force includes various state and local officials, both appointed and elected, as well as 18 private sector individuals (including three MPC Board members and one staff member).

The full Task Force met for the first time on Dec. 11 , 2003 to discuss its potential and charge. At its Executive Committee meeting on Jan. 7, 2004, several agreements shaped the Task Force work plan for 2004, including an outline of the committee structure and a commitment to pursue a number of  priorities during the year. The broader charge of the Task Force is to develop a comprehensive plan for 2005 that prioritizes the housing needs of historically underserved constituencies: lower-income workers who cannot afford to live near their jobs, people struggling with homelessness, individuals with disabilities, seniors, and households living in "at-risk" affordable housing.

Building on its own work in recent years, in addition to forwarding the broader charge of Executive Order, MPC’s key priorities on the Task Force are to (a) identify incentives for municipalities who are forwarding the governor’s new housing policy, (b) scale up its employer-assisted housing initiative statewide, (c) promote better regional coordination, best-practices, and accountability among public housing authorities, (d) pursue more financial resources for housing, and (e) promote legislation codifying the governor’s Executive Order.

Guided by the Executive Order and momentum afoot, the Task Force has organized committees around six critical charges:

  1. Community and regional housing solutions: Co-chaired by Rockford Mayor Doug Scott and MPC, this Committee will work on "live near work" strategies, the role of municipalities in forwarding the governor’s housing policy, and address related issues such as fair housing and immigration trends. The first meeting of this Committee will be Feb. 20, 2004 at 11 a.m. at the offices of the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA);
  2. Family housing, including public housing, rental assistance and other strategies for serving the full range of households earning less than 30 percent of Area Media Income;
  3. Preservation and rehabilitation, including issues related to expiring subsidies, code enforcement and foreclosure prevention; 
  4. Special needs housing (both with and without services) for seniors, ex-offenders, emancipated youth, people with disabilities, households struggling with homelessness, etc.; 
  5. Rural and small city housing; and 
  6. Housing innovation, and how to streamline and leverage financing, as well as other best practices.

Each committee is charged with building on recommendations from the Housing Committee advising Gov. Blagojevich's Transition Team, as well as other consensus achieved in recent years. The Task Force will wrap up with a report in May that identifies short- and long-term goals, as well as recommendations for specific actions. The Task Force has further agreed to establish priorities to act upon in 2004, in addition to its primary responsibilities related to a more comprehensive strategy.

All Committees welcome public participation. Click here for a schedule of working group meetings. Further information on all meetings will be available both at MPC's and IHDA's Web sites.

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