In Hurry to Get Approval, Affordable Housing Plan told to Chill Out

By Timmy Watson in News on May 13, 2007 2:31PM

Mayor Daley is attempting to giddyup the vote on his affordable-housing plan prior to the new council members take office on May 21. Wednesday was supposed to be the last meeting of the current council, but using a parliamentary maneuver Ald. Preckwinkle (4th) and seven others blocked the vote, hoping to have the vote once the 9 new members come on board.

The Mayor's affordable housing plan calls for 10% of new developments that are on city land, that receive taxpayer subsidies or need approval from City Hall to be set aside for households whose income does not exceed the median for the Chicago Metropolitan Area. The metropolitan area includes all of Chicagoland. Opponents of the plan say the median income for the metropolitan area is too high and won't reach those that really need housing. An amendment is being pushed to reduce the limit to those households that are at 80% of the area median income. This would change the income from approximately $75,000 to $59,600.

The Daley administration feels the amendment would hurt future developments and deter developers from building in the area because they will have to lower prices and decrease their profit. Developers and their razor thin profit margins couldn't possibly handle that.

Preckwinkle and the others that blocked the vote hoped it would stall the vote long enough, but allies on the council were able to schedule a meeting for Monday morning to deal with the ordinance.