Towns fail with cheap housing

By Marni Pyke and Robert Sanchez Daily Herald Staff Writers
Posted Friday, August 13, 2004


News that they're on a list of towns failing to meet affordable housing standards was met with a collective "so what?" by DuPage County municipalities.

In fact, DuPage joined a number of suburbs thumbing their collective noses at a new state law that aims to help low- and middle-income people find homes.

Forty-nine towns fell short of a state goal of 10 percent affordable housing, the Illinois Housing Development Authority said Thursday. The state calls houses valued at $124,000 and monthly rents of $775 affordable.

Many local officials called the state goals unrealistic, given the cost of land in the county.

"It doesn't effectively create affordable housing," said Rick Curneal, a director with the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference. "There are other ways that it could be addressed, promoted and encouraged."

State leaders say the critics don't get the point.

"The idea is for municipalities to actively look in the mirror, roll up their sleeves and come up with a plan," said state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, an Evanston Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors.

'Misplaced hysteria'
A law passed last year gives municipalities on the watch list until April to produce a plan on how to achieve affordable housing goals.

Towns have three options: achieve 15 percent affordable housing in new developments; attain 10 percent affordable housing overall; or reach 3 percentage points higher than current levels.

That means a village like Oak Brook, with 1.6 percent affordable housing, would need to make 4.6 percent to comply.

In 2009, a state appeals board will be created that can overturn municipal decisions on affordable housing proposals by developers.

It's a deal everyone should be able to live with, said Bryan Zises, Illinois Housing Development Authority spokesman.

"We're not doing something off the wall, it has to be integrated into the community," he said. "A lot of the hysteria is misplaced. If they think it's building Cabrini-Green in Kenilworth, it's not going to happen."

Cool reception
DuPage towns failing to meet the state goals were Burr Ridge, Hinsdale, Naperville, Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace and Wayne.

• Naperville was just a few points short of the state affordable housing quota with 9.4 percent.

Planning director Cristina Van Valkenburgh said legal experts believe the city is exempt from the legislation because of home rule.

Nevertheless, Naperville has always valued diversity, from income to age, in its residents, Van Valkenburgh said.

"We have not in the past kept a scorecard, but it has been on the radar screen," she said.

Planners will meet with the city council in the fall to update it on housing issues, including the state law.

Richard Furstenau, a Naperville councilman and builder, said government subsidies would be necessary for developers to make a profit given land, labor and material costs.

"It's impossible for an independent builder to build affordable housing in this county," he said.

• In Oak Brook, officials were figuring out how to proceed.

"There is no plan," said Bob Kallien, community development director. "There's been minimal, if any, discussion on this so far. I guess now there's going to have to be some discussion."

Kallien said one major hurdle developers must overcome in Oak Brook is the estimated $500,000 cost for half-acre lots.

"I would say that an average house in Oak Brook, when you factor in land, is probably about $1 million," he said.

The village is fighting in court a plan by the DuPage County Housing Authority to build affordable apartment for seniors at the Mayslake Friary.

"But even if that project would have gotten approved, that still doesn't get us anywhere near that 10 percent," Kallien said. "It was 94 units total and, I think, 17 of them were affordable. So what does that get you? It doesn't get you much."

• Burr Ridge leaders plan to make every attempt to draft a plan. But like Oak Brook, they also have high land values.

Burr Ridge has 2.9 percent units of affordable housing.

"You could prepare a plan that nice on paper," Village Administrator Steven Stricker said. "But is it really going to do what they want it to do? I am not convinced it could be done.

"Then the question is where does that money come from?" Stricker said. "You are not talking about a few bucks."

Lacking a stick?
State officials say municipalities shouldn't feel threatened by the policy.

"There is no stick in this law," Zises said. "If they think it's comply or else - that's the wrong paradigm.

However, the state appeals board does have powers that disturb some.

"They chose to mandate this planning appeals board process that we don't think is going to be effective," Curneal said.

Joe Schatteman, who worked on the legislation for the Illinois Municipal League, said the process isn't arbitrary.

"The developer has to have clear and convincing evidence that the municipality is placing in barriers to the development," Schatteman said.

For those towns who call the law expensive to follow, the housing development authority says there are several ways to create lower-priced housing without expensive subsidies.

These include density bonuses that could mean allowing a builder to add affordable units to a development, or tax incentives.

There is also help available from federal programs, said DuPage County Housing Authority Executive Director John Day.

"Low-interest loans are out there to help with the creation and development of affordable housing," he said.

Day fears the policy doesn't have enough teeth and regretted that the appeals board won't be set up sooner as it could help with the agency's legal battle against Oak Brook.

Tammi Grossman, executive director of the Statewide Housing Action Coalition for Illinois agreed the policy could be stronger.

"The law is pretty tame," she said, adding that state data show reforms are important.

More than 15 percent of Illinois residents spent more than 35 percent of their income on housing as did 28.3 percent of renters.

People should be able to live in the same communities they work in, Grossman says.

"I don't know where they expect people - who wait on tables, or put out fires or teach their children - to live," she said.