On October 24, an Urban Land Institute panel will recommend better ways to develop housing for working families in Humboldt Park, Highland Park and Hanover Park.
Did you know that hundreds of thousands of working families in the Chicago region, both city and suburban, cannot afford an average-rent apartment or average-priced house?
You could call it the Great Millennium Housing Squeeze, in which a single-income family headed by a starting-wage health care worker or school teacher is forced to spend far more than the recommended 30 percent of income on rent or mortgage payments.
Indeed, large swaths of the Chicago metropolitan area, from gentrifying city neighborhoods to upscale subdivisions rising along the suburban frontier, are priced well beyond the reach of moderate-income folks — including many who work nearby. It's a major reason the Chicago area has one of the lengthiest average commute times in the nation. It's also a factor behind unhealthful air pollution and costly employee turnover.
What can be done to bring down the cost of housing for a growing workforce?
It's a big question, but not too big for a panel of nationally renowned housing experts who were brought to Chicago last summer by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to study conditions in three very different communities ... and come up with proposals for each: Humboldt Park in Chicago; Highland Park along the suburban North Shore; and Hanover Park on the Cook-DuPage border.
On Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001, practical recommendations from the ULI advisory panel will be discussed at a special symposium from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Festival Hall on Navy Pier. The symposium was scheduled originally for Sept. 13, but was postponed due to the terrorist attacks earlier that week.
Sponsored jointly by ULI's Chicago District Council and the Campaign for Sensible Growth, the program invites national and local balanced growth advocates to critique, and expand upon, the ULI findings. Responding will be Irwin Bock, mayor of Hanover Park; Lee Smith, senior planner, City of Highland Park; and Jack Markowski, Chicago's commissioner of housing.
Adding a national perspective will be Dana Beach, chair of the national Growth Management Leadership Alliance; and Don Chen, director of Washington, D.C.-based Smart Growth America.
The entire program is open to the press.
For more information contact Ellen Shubart, manager of the Campaign for Sensible Growth, at 312.922.5616, ext. 132; or Jerry James, of the ULI Chicago District Council's steering committee, at 847.724.8200, ext. 222.
The Campaign for Sensible Growth is a coalition of more than 160 civic, business and government leaders working to achieve balanced development both locally and statewide. The Campaign is co-chaired by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission and the Metropolitan Planning Council.
The Urban Land Institute is a national, nonprofit effort by real estate and development professionals to advance education and research about uses of land that enhance the total environment.
Principle sponsors of the Oct. 24 symposium include Aon Corporation, Bank of America, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Pepper Construction Group.