The Lake Forest City Council approved spending $335,000 on affordable housing on Monday.
Of that amount, $300,000 will be spent on two houses, said Don Schoenheider, chair of the city’s Housing Trust Fund Board. The houses will be chosen, rehabilitated and occupied in fiscal 2018 and 2019.
Another $30,000 will go to Community Partners for Affordable Housing of Highland Park, which will supply grant money toward buying the houses, secure a loan for financing, take on any risk of non-repayment, oversee rehabilitation, handle bidding for contractors and screen potential tenants, according to city documents.
The remaining $5,000 will go to Community Partners for marketing affordable units, finding qualified tenants and related consulting services, the documents stated
Since 2011, the city has developed six homes for low and moderate income households, according to the city’s website, targeted toward people who already have a connection to Lake Forest.
“In addition to people who live or work here, it’s for seniors, people who work in the hospital, college or schools and people who may have lived here and moved away,” said Cathy Cznerniak, community development director.
Through the 1970s and even into the 1980s, there was diversity in housing in Lake Forest, with some housing available for lower or moderate income residents, according to city documents.
“I think we have seen some demolition of smaller homes,” Czerniak said. “When you see demolitions, larger homes are built.”
The median value of owner occupied houses in Lake Forest is $841,000, according to the 2015 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census. The median value statewide is $173,000, it said.
In 2005, the city required developers of market-rate housing of five or more units to set aside 15 percent of units or contribute their value in money for affordable housing, according to the city website.
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In 2006, the city instituted a demolition tax of $10,000 for single and two-family homes and $5,000 for apartments or condominiums, with revenue going to a new Housing Trust Fund, according to the city website. In 2008, the city council declared its intent to work with adjacent municipalities to address a shortage of workforce housing along the North Shore, according to the website.
The Housing Trust Fund Board had become “a bit dormant” the last few years due to a lack of housing development, Czerniak said. When Mayor Rob Lansing took office earlier this year, he reduced the number of members from seven to three and reactivated the board, she said.
“The timing was right with the development activity,” Czerniak said.
That activity includes construction of Kelmscott Park – formerly called the Laurel and Western development – along with condominiums on McKinley Road.
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