Put Housing First in the Second City

This week, the Chicago City Council's Housing and Finance committees voted 13 to 8 to send an affordable housing bill to lame-duck mayor Richard Daley. Can it make the windy city a bit more hospitable to low-income people?

The measure, known as the Sweet Home Chicago bill, would require that 20 percent of the city's TIF (tax increment financing) funds be set aside for affordable housing within TIF districts. It will go to a vote of the full council as soon as Wednesday.

Alderman Walter Burnett is the chief sponsor of the bill, which was held up in the Housing and Finance committee for months, causing protests by community organizers such as the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

The Mayor opposes the bill, and some — like Progress Illinois — expect a contentious vote. Opponents say the bill could tie the hands of city planners, and city attorneys say the bill's pooling of TIF money across areas for a single use may be illegal.

TIF funds are a portion of tax money collected on the difference in property values over time in designated zones of blight, set specifically aside for reinvestment and redevelopment. The concept is in wide use across the country, but rarely is it as controversial as in Chicago, where oversight and transparency has long been questioned.

The bill's opponents make valid claims. Says the Community Development Commissioner Ellen Sahli: "I think we need to have some flexibility to look at what the community needs," which may not always be affordable housing. Certainly, affordable housing may not be the primary need in every TIF zone. But the solution is not to scrap the bill; it is already an amended version of its initial form, and changing the language may allow it to comply with the law and make affordable housing a priority.

Still, the debate needs to be put further into the context of Chicago's history with TIF. Too often, TIF dollars have been spent luring corporate interests with the promise of jobs. This does not always result in the sort of sustainable community development the spirit of the law suggests. Corporations haven't always offered living wages in the communities where they build, and the corporations lured have set up shop downtown where workers aren't necessarily living or invested in.

Investing in affordable housing is the first step in building community. It provides a livable space in which residents can build locally, making any wages more livable and encouraging smaller, local developers to move in where there is a readily available workforce. It does not happen in a vacuum, so it is obviously not the only needed investment — flexibility is important — but affordable housing needs to be on the agenda. For too many, as we've been reminded recently, the rent is too damn high. Let Mayor Daley and the Chicago City Council know by signing the petition in support of Sweet Home Chicago.

Photo credit: urbanfeel