A year after the committee charged with finding ways to privatize Wilmette’s housing subsidy program delivered its findings, Village President Bob Bielinski said he hopes to soon name a fundraising board for the new entity.
Village staff members have completed the necessary state and federal tax paperwork, he said March 19, “and I’m hopeful that within the next few months we’ll be able to announce the formation of the committee to handle fundraising.”
In the meantime, he said, Wilmette can continue administering its own subsidy program for seniors and disabled residents, thanks to private donations netted since trustees decided in October 2013 to end municipal funding of the program.
Those donations now stand at $16,397, according to Community Development Director John Adler. They have been routed into an escrow account that has funded the assistance program, commonly known as HAP.
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That money, plus a promised $80,000 that M&R Development plans to give Wilmette once its 611 Green Bay Road project starts, mean “we’ve got some runway” to continue serving current program recipients before the private effort gets off the ground, Bielinski said.
“I won’t comment on who might be involved until we have it all wrapped up, but were at the point where I’m going back to people who have said they were interested,” he added.
The $48,000 municipal housing assistance program was started in 1981 and until 2010 was funded completely by village revenue. After that, Wilmette cut direct funding by $20,000, drawing the rest from an affordable housing escrow account. The so-called Red Seal account came from money paid by the developers of the former National Louis University property on Sheridan Road,
Trustees unanimously agreed in 2013 to end even that level of funding, arguing that in hard economic times – and with the private escrow account nearing depletion – they should focus on delivering infrastructure and public safety services. Social programs such as housing subsidies could be better handled by private entities, they told residents who fought the change.
Bielinski appointed a committee to recommend privatization strategies. In March 2014 it advised Wilmette to create a nonprofit board for fundraising purposes. It also recommended that the village maintain actual administration of the eventual private program, with some help from New Trier Township staff.
The committee additionally urged Wilmette to continue running its own program to ensure that the roughly two dozen seniors and disabled citizens then receiving rent, mortgage or tax relief not suffer any disruptions to that service. The Village Board did agree to do so.
At the time, committee head Nancy Canafax warned that fundraising would require “a lot of energy and imagination” from any nonprofit group formed to raise money for the private program.
“It’s not clear just how successful this will be,” she added.
Between February and June 2014, groups and individuals donated $9,500 to the escrow account after the village publicized the change and provided a donation button on its home page. The remainder has come in since then.
Bielinski said March 19 that he has been searching steadily over the past year for board volunteers for the group, tentatively entitled Housing Our Own, and said the search process “is about where I thought it would be.”
“I’m feeling pretty good about where we are now. When we hand it over to (a new board), it’s going to be their energy and passion and commitment to the cause that will make the program work,” he added.
To learn more about the assistance program and to donate to the escrow account, visit the village website.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy