In Bronzeville, a building boom is going on, and upscale new condominiums are sprouting up on blocks dotted with vacant lots.
Some residents in the South Side neighborhood have their eyes on those empty lots, believing they would be best used as locations for homes for moderate-income people who are priced out of the upscale condos.
A group called Housing Bronzeville wants the city to set aside 26 percent of city-owned vacant lots in the neighborhood for affordable housing. To help pay for it, the group wants property owners in Bronzeville to pay a small increase in property taxes for a housing trust fund, a concept supported in a non-binding referendum in 2004.
“Affordable housing is almost nil in this city now,” says group member Valencia Hardy, who lives in a house her father bought years ago. “Property in this area is going so high … the housing market is outrageous.”
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The group believes there are about 1,800 city-owned lots in Bronzeville, which includes parts of four city wards, said Cheryl Spivey-Perry, the executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center, which supports Housing Bronzeville.
Here’s what people in Bronzeville had to say about affordable housing and vacant lots:
“I would have a problem with that [tax], just to get rid of a few vacant lots in the city. Affordable housing, that’s not a big issue for me. The higher the property goes, the better for the owners.”
Nate Butler, 30
“I think it’s something to think about. For all the building going on, it’s not affordable. People can barely afford where they are now.”
Cathy Parks, 42
“It’s getting ridiculous, but what can you do? I’ve lived here all my life. It has gotten unaffordable, and it’s getting more unaffordable. On the surface, [the Housing Bronzeville plan] sounds good, but how do you do that? Who’s going to pay to refurbish these vacant lots? [Additional taxes] are not going to go over well.”
Marvin Mullens, 47