Housing forum stresses importance of cooperative solutions to regional workforce housing shortage - Metropolitan Planning Council

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Housing forum stresses importance of cooperative solutions to regional workforce housing shortage

Over 120 municipal leaders participated the December event hosted by Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, Homebuilders Association of Greater Chicago, Illinois Housing Council, Roosevelt University, and MPC.

Build community acceptance. Don’t go it alone. Build upon existing assets. Look for opportunities to preserve.

These were the key lessons from Supporting Workforce Housing Deals “In Our Own Backyard,” a Dec. 20, 2006, forum at Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg campus. More than 120 municipal leaders, homebuilders, real estate professionals, and others attended to share success stories, hear from experts, and work toward cooperative solutions to the Chicago region’s housing needs.

This was the second forum of its kind. The Dec. 14, 2005, forum – How Do We Make Mixed-Income Housing Work: A Conversation with Mayors, Homebuilders, and the Governor’s Office – helped build momentum for a handful of victories at the state level, including:

SB2290, the Comprehensive Planning Act.

SB 2885, the Business Location Efficiency Incentive Act.

Illinois’ 2007 comprehensive plan goals to promote live near work initiatives.

While significant progress has been made since the 2005 forum, funding levels for affordable housing development and preservation in Illinois are still well below national standards. According to a 2006 report from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and United Power for Action and Justice , about 90 percent of the money spent on affordable housing by the state comes from federal resources. Of that, only $49 million is directed toward affordable housing development and preservation not restricted to seniors or those with special needs. This $49 million assisted or created only 819 units of housing in 2005. Meanwhile, over 35 percent of all Illinois households remain in need of affordable housing.

On December 20th, it became clear the time is ripe to pursue innovative, cooperative, inter-jurisdictional strategies to accommodate housing needs, and the housing market is going a new direction. Peter Schwartz, CEO of the Homebuilders Association of Greater Chicago, Joe McDonnell, regional economist for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, and Colin McCrae, CEO of the Attainable Housing Alliance discussed emerging market trends which show that while 2006 was a difficult year in the real estate industry, indicators point to a recovery in 2007, particularly in the rental and multifamily markets.

Key lessons from the December 20th forum are:

•Build community acceptance. Housing that has an affordable component may face opposition and require strategies to overcome that resistance. Create a vision for the development, but allow some flexibility in that vision to address community concerns. When shaping a development plan, it is important to remember that at the heart of most opposition is the desire to see new development that is well managed, well-designed, fits in with and enhances the community, and has minimal impact on infrastructure. The earlier one starts to generate community acceptance the better. One way to do this is to tap into MPC’s Community Acceptance Strategy , which can build momentum for specific projects or policies that meet certain affordability criteria.

•Don’t go it alone. Involve policy experts, partner with other municipalities and units of government (such as your county), and engage employers and real estate professionals to develop solutions that address local needs and make good business sense.

•Build upon existing assets. Affordable housing doesn’t work well in isolation. Create opportunities for a mix of housing prices and uses. Workforce housing near transit or near commercial districts not only adds to a successful residential project, but also complements these other uses.

•Look for opportunities to preserve. It’s always easier to preserve a development than to build new. There are resources and real estate development experts who are willing and able to assist communities as they preserve and upgrade their aging housing. If you have a problem property in your community, there are things that can be done to turn it around.

State leaders need to hear from new voices that housing to meet the needs of our growing employment sectors, seniors, and other underserved populations must be a priority. Some new initiatives at the state level, including the “Good Housing, Good Schools” legislation (SB 220), seek to address the gap between affordable housing demand and supply by fostering cooperation between school districts, employers, municipal governments, and homebuilders.

While the state needs to be more active in supporting housing solutions, an exclusively top-down approach will not get the job done. That is why it is encouraging to see many Chicago-area communities and developers working to create housing that serves the growing demand in our region. Many of these success stories are examined in Home Grown: Local Housing Strategies in Action, a collection of more than 30 housing-related ‘best practices' from around the Chicago region released by three of the forum’s sponsors, MPC and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, and Chicago Metropolis 2020 .

Some of the local stories shared on December 20th include:

•Evanston Ald. Eb Moran discussed the fate of Darrow Corners, a proposed housing development for working families that met community resistance and ultimately failed to materialize. “Support for Darrow Corners came too late,” explained Moran. The lessons from Moran’s experience echoed throughout the entire day – supporters need to speak on the record, and the project vision needs to be flexible so that it can adapt in the face of criticism.

•Hipolito (Paul) Roldan, President of the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, spoke to the growing interest in preserving existing affordable housing, a cost-effective strategy that builds on existing assets. With support from the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation , Hispanic Housing plans to preserve seven to nine multifamily properties per year, and is committed to restoring high quality property management in suburban communities currently underserved by existing housing programs.

•St. Charles Mayor Donald DeWitte spoke about several initiatives that his city is implementing, including inclusionary zoning and a housing trust fund. He spoke about the need to develop local strategies in partnership with the development and real estate communities that make sense with the local market, and meet community workforce housing goals.

Unfortunately, not all of the communities present were able to showcase their housing initiatives. Notable among these were the DuPage Housing Action Coalition , a broad network of organizations, including municipal and county representatives, that has been meeting over the last year to develop strategies for preserving and expanding housing options throughout DuPage County. Several innovative strategies have come out of this process, including recommendations for a potential mixed-density overlay district that would be available for developments that include an affordable housing component. Also, the City of Chicago has been working on several new strategies, including its community land trust, which was established in 2005, and proposed Affordability Requirements Ordinance, which would require a percentage of affordable housing in development proposals requesting zoning variances from the city.

The forum, which was organized by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, Homebuilders Association of Greater Chicago, Illinois Housing Council, Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Roosevelt University , and Metropolitan Planning Council, was part of a continuing effort to build new bridges between municipal leaders and the real estate community on housing issues.

For more information, contact Josh Ellis, MPC community development associate, at (312)863-6045 or jellis@metroplanning.org ; or Beth Dever, housing director, Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, at (312) 201-4507 or beth.dever@mayorscaucus.org .

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