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player ready...One year ago in these pages, we released research that homeowners in Cook County were experiencing the greatest volatility in property taxes — both in rates of increase and higher tax bills — that had ever been seen. This is likely not news to many, but it was a significant development for our local economy.
Unexpected increases in property taxes don’t just create financial stress for households. If taxes are escrowed in a mortgage, they threaten the ability to pay the mortgage and thus put homeownership at risk.
In this moment, preserving homeownership is especially critical.
We have met with homeowners across Cook County in recent years to assist with property taxes and have heard firsthand the need for a lifeline. Property taxes are rising faster than homeowners’ ability to pay, forcing people to leave the very neighborhoods they love and have called home — and undermining their best opportunity to build generational wealth.
Homeownership also benefits the stability of communities by expanding the property tax base. And the tax base in Cook County is a perfect example of “growing the pie”: the more taxpayers that contribute, the lower the bills for everyone.
In direct response to what we’ve heard from constituents, Commissioner Bridget Gainer’s office commissioned a study from the University of Chicago’s Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation to help define and quantify the problem. The results were stark: Seniors and working- and middle-class households are most affected by volatile property taxes, and the impacts are accelerating gentrification and driving vacancy and abandonment.
In response, Cook County launched the Homeowner Relief Fund last week to assist homeowners whose property taxes spiked 50% or more in any of the last three years and whose family is at or below the area median income. That means a family of four making $120,000 will qualify for relief.
There is no “silver bullet” to solve the unexpected punch of property tax increases, but the Homeowner Relief Fund is a challenge for all levels of government to be creative and build new tools to serve residents at a time of increasing economic volatility.
We did this in 2013 by creating the Cook County Land Bank Authority to redevelop the inventory of vacant lots and abandoned and foreclosed properties. The almost 3,000 properties developed have brought in over $75 million in property taxes. More recently, the county has championed programs such as the Cook County Down Payment Assistance Program to help homebuyers with down payments, closing costs or mortgage buydowns.
Another example is the Cook County Modular Homes Program, a pilot effort to lead construction of single-family homes in three underinvested communities with limited new home construction: Humboldt Park, Chicago Heights and Proviso Township.
Entities such as the Cook County Land Bank Authority coupled with initiatives such as the Down Payment Assistance Program and the Modular Homes Pilot Program are just the start.
If we want our neighborhoods to thrive — not just survive — we must invest in the people who built them. Homeownership is more than a financial asset; it’s the foundation of stable, vibrant communities. The Homeowner Relief Fund is one step forward.
Let’s work together — across government, private sector and community organizations — to build a property tax system and housing options that ensure that people love where they live.
Toni Preckwinkle is president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Bridget Gainer is Cook County commissioner for the 10th District and founder and board chair of the Cook County Land Bank Authority.
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