Evanston might soon require developers to provide or pay for affordable housing in new developments.
But the proposed law, called the inclusionary housing ordinance, needs some rewriting before it can be approved by Evanston City Council, according to a city lawyer.
It would require that new developments between six and 24 units have 10 percent of the number of dwellings designated as affordable. For developments with 25 to 99 units, this portion would increase to 15 percent, and developments with more than 100 units would need 20 percent.
Affordable housing in Evanston is for residents who make less than 50 percent of the Chicago area’s median income.
The city now has no codified plan to make developers provide affordable housing. But if developers wish to build more than zoning rules allow, they have the option of providing affordable housing as a public benefit, or donating to a city fund. Just last month, developer Ferris Homes donated $25,000 to a city affordable housing fund in return for approval of a condominium project on Emerson Street.
Inclusionary housing has existed since the 1970s and is popular in Virginia, Florida and California. However, the law rarely appears in the Midwest. Highland Park, a northern suburb of Chicago, in 2003 became the first Illinois city to adopt an inclusionary housing ordinance.
Developers still could challenge Evanston’s enforcement of any future inclusionary housing laws, city lawyer Jack Siegel said. State guidelines require that at least 10 percent of the housing in each city be affordable, and Evanston’s number is 25 percent.
Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) said it is unlikely such a challenge would survive in court because the state guideline is only the minimum requirement. Some people in Evanston could use the added affordable units, he said.
“As property values rise and as taxes rise, groups like senior citizens, who are on a fixed income and have lived here for decades, can’t pay the taxes anymore,” Moran said. “For every person who is thwarted in his or her desire to either come to live in Evanston or stay living in Evanston, they will say that 25 percent isn’t enough.”
Developers might also object to the ordinance because it would be too burdensome, Siegel said. But there have yet been no lawsuits in Illinois regarding inclusionary housing.
“The Supreme Court of Illinois says burdens placed on development must be ‘specifically and uniquely attributable’ to specific projects, which might be difficult to prove (in Evanston’s ordinance),” Siegel said.
Yet as long as the city is applying the ordinance uniformly and consistently, it would be hard for developers to prove that the law is a burden, Moran said.
Ald. Cheryl Wollin (1st) said there are ways to provide affordable housing without discouraging new construction in Evanston.
“If they feel they can’t make as much of a profit, there are some types of alternatives,” Wollin said.
In its current form, Evanston’s ordinance would allow developers to bypass the law by donating money to a city affordable housing fund instead of building affordable units. Evanston could use that money to build affordable units elsewhere, although Moran said this might lead to concentrations of affordable housing, the very situation the ordinance is attempting to prevent.
The ordinance would also give too much discretion to Evanston’s community development director and would not allow for enough participation by the City Council in choosing alternative sites for affordable housing, Siegel said.
Despite some flaws in the ordinance, the council will continue to examine the idea, Ald. Delores Holmes (5th) said.
“Affordable housing is a way of keeping low-income and middle-income families involved in the community,” Holmes said. “We will continue to work on it.”
Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected].
