Posted on 08/27/2003 9:47:27 AM PDT by TastyManatees
Affordable-housing law OKd
Highland Park puts requirement on developers
By Amanda Vogt, Tribune staff reporter. Freelance reporter Julie Ewart contributed to this report
August 27, 2003
Prompted in part by complaints that young people cannot afford to raise families in the community where they grew up, the North Shore city of Highland Park has approved what an observer called a "precedent-setting" zoning ordinance requiring a portion of new multifamily developments to be reserved for affordable housing.
The ordinance, passed unanimously by the City Council Monday night, requires 20 percent of new multifamily residential construction with five or more units to be set aside for affordable housing, officials said. The city defines "affordable" as housing priced within reach of a family of four earning $56,500 to $90,000.
Under the ordinance, which takes effect Oct. 1, the average affordable housing unit in Highland Park would sell for about $180,000, compared with a 2002 median home sale price of $430,000 in the suburb, said Lee Smith, a Highland Park senior planner. Last year, the median sale price for new single-family construction in the city was $1.1 million, he said.
The ordinance is necessary, Smith said, because developers have not provided housing for a broad range of incomes. Many Highland Park natives have been forced to live outside the city, he said, and elderly residents struggle to pay rising property taxes.
"Diversity has been declining, with most of our rental units lost and many of the small houses in the $300,000-to-$400,000 range torn down to make way for more expensive homes," Smith said.
The only affordable housing constructed in Highland Park in the last 20 years is the Sunset Woods senior housing complex, which the city built, Smith said.
"The ordinance recognizes that the private sector needs assistance," he said.
Scott Goldstein, vice president of policy and planning for the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago, called Highland Park's actions "precedent-setting, not only in Illinois, but nationally."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
You must not have read the bill of rights in the Leftist version of the constitution: "You have the right to live in an expensive neighborhood, even though you don't have a job, or work a minimum wage job because you dropped out of school at 15 to sell drugs and don't have any real skills. If you cannot afford to live in a nice neighborhood the gummint will pass a law saying the builders must sell you a home at below market value so you can feel good about yourself. Then, since you cannot afford to pay property taxes in your city, we will give you gummint assistance, food stamps, and free medical care, all paid for by the hard working folks who had to pay full market value for their homes."
Slums because these folks won't be like the typically city dwelleres and will be seen as different (despite governmental attempts at mind control). With the difference some in the 'affordable' housing will want to take advantage, through five-finger discounts, crime will escallate in the city and spread. The affordable housing will not be attractive for future buyers so any buyers will have to rent to get out of the situration, leaving entrenched slums.
When will govenments ever learn that the market is based on dynamics that govenments can't change without severe side effects. I feel for those young who can't start the big jobs in the big city. Sometimes you have to start out somewhere else and then land the bigger job where you want to live. It's a tough lesson, but better learned that way than being in the slums.
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