Some Skokie residents expressed gratitude May 15 as the Village Board introduced a proposed comprehensive affordable housing ordinance in the wake of the village studying the topic for several months. The Board will discuss it again at a June 20 meeting, with the possibly of taking a vote.
“I would like to thank the board for spending (so much) time on this issue and thank you for taking this seriously,” resident Lauren Grodnicki said. “I have some inkling on how much work must have been put into this from the legal department, so a gigantic thank you to the legal department.”
The ordinance comes after Trustee Keith Robinson in December made a motion to assign the village’s Plan Commission the task of performing a study into the topic of affordable housing to bring forth an ordinance. The Plan Commission held several public hearings accompanied by staff presentations in pursuit of this task.
Skokie’s latest affordable housing goals would include creating a fund to finance future affordable housing projects, such as a potential land trust to regulate the sale price of participating homes to not exceed the inflation rate. A land trust, also called a community land trust, is an entity providing affordable housing to low-to-moderate income households with a written agreement and managed by a nonprofit organization or board.
The fund will be partially funded by implementing inclusionary housing, which would require developers to allocate a certain number of a building’s units as affordable housing. Developments with 11 to 150 units should offer 5% of those units as affordable housing units while projects with more than 150 units should offer 10% as affordable housing units, according to the drafted ordinance. These units must have a lease term of at least 12 months and the developer must submit an annual compliance report describing each “unit in detail including but not limited to changes in tenancy, turnovers and income certifications for all new tenants.”
As the ordinance was proposed on May 15, the units must be offered as affordable housing units for 40 years. However, members of the Board of Trustees struggled with how long to make this period. Some, like Trustee James Johnson, said the affordable housing units should be offered in perpetuity as a permanent solution. Meanwhile others, like Trustee Alison Pure Slovin, said 40 years was too long because so much can change before then, especially since it is a topic new to the village.
“In retrospect, after reading this and discussing it in various ways, and because of what we said about projected life, we don’t know what will happen in 20 years, I have (to say) I’m uncomfortable with the 40 years,” Pure Slovin said. “I think that’s too large of a gap for us to evaluate and I’d be more comfortable with 20 years … 40 years is just too large for a project we don’t know much about at this time.”
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The Board agreed to revisit the time length issue at its June 20 meeting.
Half the affordable units should be at roughly 60% of area median income while the other half should be at roughly 80% of area median income, the drafted ordinance states. The U.S. Department of Housing and Development puts area median family income at $107,800 for the 2022 fiscal year in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Fair Market Rent area, which includes Cook County and Skokie.
Skokie’s proposed ordinance also states a developer can avoid offering affordable housing units by paying $150,000 per unit. This money would go into the affordable housing fund but developments with more than 100 units are not eligible for the payment-in-lieu alternative, the drafted ordinance states.
Separately, trustees approved creating a Plan Commission subcommittee to explore giving the village’s Comprehensive Plan’s housing section a facelift to include more affordable housing measures by June 28, 2024, according to village memos. The subcommittee is not the Affordable Housing Commission that Trustees Robinson and Johnson, alongside activist group Skokie Neighbors for Housing Justice, have been asking for, but Mayor George Van Dusen assured the two trustees the subcommittee will consider creating the commission, citing he “wanted to get (the subcommittee vote) done tonight” to provide direction to potential subcommittee members.
The subcommittee will consist of four Plan Commission members alongside one member each from the Appearance Commission, Economic Development Commission, Family Services Commission, Human Relations Commission and the Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission. Four residents will join these representatives on the subcommittee. The residents will be selected by the mayor and affirmed by the Board of Trustees.
Grodnicki raised concerns about the subcommittee, saying it needs to have industry experts on it to ensure the right questions are being addressed. Other activists, like resident Gail Schechter, say a long-term commission should be brought forth sooner rather than later.
Previously, Schechter told Pioneer Press, “We (want) the creation of a Housing Commission. The Plan Commission is not equipped to look at housing as a basic human need. There’s a contradiction between a commission that would look at something like Carvana to maximize income for the village versus housing and what we all need to create a community.”
Skokie Neighbors for Housing Justice devised a list of tasks the long-term commission would perform, Schechter said, which includes regular community outreach sessions, assisting in the comprehensive plan’s housing chapter, monitoring housing policy, establishing a community land trust and more.