Articles

An inclusionary housing ordinance (IHO) requires a certain percentage of units in any new or substantially rehabbed residential building in a municipality to be affordable to people at moderate or low incomes. On Monday, October 29, Evanston's IHO Sub-Committee passed a revised ordinance that Joining Forces believes is a great improvement upon the one passed...

The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO) Sub-Committee in Evanston has nearly finished its work and is going to be presenting its proposed changes to City Council for a vote in October. For the most part, Joining Forces members have felt that the proposed changes are excellent and will make the ordinance much more impactful. However, we do have a couple of c...

Every quarter, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development's (HUD's) Office of Policy Development & Research publishes a periodical called Evidence Matters . This spring's edition, called "Regulatory Barriers and Affordable Housing," is particularly enlightening, and I'm including a link to it here . I have abstracted some of the key points below. T...

On July 30, the City of Evanston housing staff announced that they are embarking on an affordable housing planning process. The documentation they provided for the meeting is on pages 189 through 191 of the packet for the Board meeting . Some of the things we particularly like about this plan include the following: It will make use of the research that has...

In the discussions that Joining Forces has been having among its members, one of the key issues is the definition of "affordable housing." This is important, because the answer is different for different people, and to address the overall need, we need to include solutions for all the subsets of need in our planning. "Affordable housing" is considered to be ...

On June 28, the Chicago Housing Initiative (CHI) launched a campaign called Our Home, Chicago . Highlighting support from several Chicago aldermen, the campaign included a press release , press conference, social media blitz, and several articles in the Chicago Tribune . Even more impressive, CHI worked with aldermen to create and propose two ordinances, ...

The Village of Wilmette is voting on Tuesday, June 26, on whether to "opt in" to Cook County's ordinances to increase the minimum wage and improve sick leave benefits for employees. Read and sign on to our letter to the Board of Trustees here , and please attend the Board meeting (7:00 at the Wilmette Village Hall).

We went through the strategies that the City staff presented in their White Paper (see pages 16 - 22) at the first of the Evanston City Council's special meetings on affordable housing (October 30, 2017) and did a quick evaluation of status. The Good News The Council and staff are making progress where they can and are moving the ball forward. The green b...

Why a Plan Is Needed The main questions that Evanston aldermen have had so far around development of an Affordable Housing Plan have been: Why do we need a plan? Who should create the plan? When should a planning process begin? Our arguments for why a plan is needed, who should create it, and when they should create it are documented here . Status of a Plan...

On April 30, the Evanston City Council held its third quarterly meeting focused on affordable housing. The City's housing staff reported on the work they had done since the last meeting, and Council referred further investigation of several potential actions to the Planning & Development Committee. So, progress was made....until Alderman Revelle recommended ...

Here is the letter that Joining Forces has sent to the Evanston City Council in preparation for their upcoming quarterly meeting on affordable housing, scheduled for April 30. There have been lots of behind-the-scenes conversations over the last quarter, many that Joining Forces has been involved in and, encouragingly, many that we have not been involved in!...

Evanston's Zoning Board of Appeals met last night (April 17) and overrode the Design & Project Review Committee's recommendation to approve, with inclusion of one affordable unit on-site (for a person at 60% of the AMI), the development of a new  12-unit rental building at 3233-3249 Central called Highlands on Central. After much discussion about the afforda...

On April 10, the Village of Wilmette voted unanimously to approve Cleland Place, a new, 16-unit affordable apartment building. You can read more about Cleland Place here: Cleland Place Info Flyer.pdf . The following is the thank you letter that Joining Forces has sent to the Wilmette Village Trustees and Plan Commission members. Thanks as well to all of you...

Article Title/Link Author Source Housing Advocacy Needs Housing Voters Michael Fogelberg Shelterforce , March 2, 2018 Impact of Affordable Housing on Families and Communities: A Review of the Evidence Base Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. Enterprise Community Partners, 2014 9 Foundations Launch Housing Collaborative Donna Kimura Affordable Housing Finance...

The City of Evanston's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO) Sub-Committee has not met since February 7, and no new meetings are on the calendar. In the meantime, several new real estate developments are under negotiation under the provisions of the current IHO. City staff is successfully negotiating with the developers to include affordable units on-site in ...

Hope for Affordable Housing in Wilmette ACTION NEEDED: Come to the Village of Wilmette Board of Trustees meeting on April 10 at 7:30 to speak in favor of Cleland Place! Summary of Commission Meetint--Recommendation to Approve At the Village of Wilmette's Plan Commission meeting on March 7, the Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to approve development of a 16-unit a...

Based on information in the packets for the following two developments, City of Evanston staff is consistently advocating that developers include the full number of on-site units in new buildings. It looks like there may be one or two areas where we want to advocate for stricter adherence, but overall, they are moving in a very good direction! 3233-3249 Cent...

Evanston City Council had its most recent quarterly Affordable Housing meeting on January 29. Key Decisions: The City will move   forward with legalizing the rental of ancillary dwelling units (like coach houses and above-garage units) to non-family members. They will continue to refine their proposal for a pilot Landlord Rehab Assistance Program. Points of ...

Comprehensive Evanston Plan The City of Evanston has the following plans (among others), most of which are out of date: Comprehensive Plan, done in 2000 Affordable Housing Plan, done in 2009 Plan to End Homelessness, done in 2012 At the same time, the City is having to make many decisions about development. Joining Forces asked that City Council start plans ...

Vermilion Enterprises has proposed to develop a 318-unit building at 601 Davis Street in Evanston. Under the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, they would be required to include 31 affordable units on-site or pay $3.1 million into the City's Affordable Housing Fund. Instead, they have proposed to include 4 units on-site and make a $1.5 million dollar payment to...