Journal & Topics Media Group

Maureen Pekosh: Take Affordable Housing Seriously


We live in an area where a common pastime could easily be driving through various neighborhoods and admiring the houses in which local people live. Many are sizable with various architectural features, rolling green lawns, long, winding driveways, and multiple car garages. Onlookers can only imagine how lavish the interiors might be. But for the 15 percent of the Cook County population that the US Census Bureau estimates is living in poverty, this is probably not so pleasurable. In Glenview, only four percent of our residents are classified as living in poverty. The conclusion I draw is we have too many big sprawling mansions and not enough affordable housing.

The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) recently reached the same conclusion. The IHDA was given the responsibility to motivate local authorities to incorporate affordable housing in their communities when the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act was enacted in 2003. Illinois legislators understood that the local cost of housing was outpacing the cost of living. They defined affordable housing as what would be affordable to buy based on 80% of regional median income and to rent based on 60% of the same base figure assuming an allocation of 30% of income to housing. The IHDA ranked lack of share of affordable housing in 1,298 places in Illinois. Glenview ranked 40. We had a lot of local company. Kenilworth ranked 8, Glencoe, 11; Winnetka, 14; Golf, 15; Northfield, 18; Wilmette, 28; Northbrook, 35; Deerfield, 41; and Highland Park, 50. Unlike desiring to be in the top rankings when the local schools report card is made available, this is not a list where being at the top speaks well of the community.

This number translates to 16,782 housing units of which 1,223 or 7.3% are affordable. For a family of five, the IHDA calculates 80% of median income to be $73,150, making $203,194 an affordable purchase price. When we purchased our home a quarter of a century ago, it was considered modest at the time, but it still cost more than what IHDA considers affordable now. The Census Bureau shows that the median owner-occupied home value in Glenview is $488,310, with average monthly costs including a mortgage of $2,715, $990 without a mortgage, and standard rent of $1,732. The IHDA defines affordable rent for a family of five to be $1,625.

Perusing houses recently sold in Glenview, no single-family homes sold would be deemed affordable. There was one two-bedroom, one bath house that sold for $17,000 over the affordable threshold. There were various townhomes and condominiums that qualified. Most appeared small, one to two bedrooms and one or two bathrooms. None had three bedrooms which I would assume more suitable for a family of five. Our village has a moral responsibility to address this imbalance.

Glenview has until June of 2020 to establish, endorse, and submit an Affordable Housing Plan. Components of the plan include: defining the number of units necessary for Glenview to be removed from this list, identifying available land suitable for building new affordable homes or existing units which could be converted or rehabbed into affordable housing, highlighting land and units of developers who have stated a pledge to deliver affordable housing and land and units that are publicly or semi-publicly owned, incentives planned to draw affordable housing to our town, and picking one of three goals. We must commit to either mandating that 15% of all new or rehabilitated units will be affordable, that we will increase our affordable housing by 3% or that we will have a minimum of 10% of our housing be affordable. These last two options are nearly identical for Glenview.

With no new building or rehabbing, Glenview has 18 months to add 455 units of affordable housing at a minimum. But the old Bess Hardware site is being redeveloped into a 72-unit high-rise. While our board prided itself on meeting certain accomplishments, “Drake concept proposal brings more residents to downtown and adds to the vitality and pedestrian-friendly vision as prescribed by the Revitalization Plan,” they made no commitment to include affordable housing. It is easy to understand why Glenview’s percentage share of affordable housing has fallen. Evanston which is exempt because it offers adequate affordable housing and Highland Park whose housing share is only .7% short both have local ordinances fostering an increase in affordable housing. Is this issue another minimum wage and sick pay for village officials?

When the IHDA report was released five years earlier, Glenview ranked 53rd on the nonexempt list. At that time, we had 16,002 units of which 1,183 were deemed affordable. That calculated to 7.4%. After this 2013 list was released, Glenview submitted its required affordable housing plan within the 18-month deadline. Five years later, new units have grown by 5% while affordable housing units have only increased by 3.4%. Does that growth track with our previously submitted plan? If we had maintained our level of affordable housing, we would now have 1,241 units. Eighteen units may not seem like a margin for concern, but with continuing new development and no commitment to mandate affordable housing is it a warning of an alarming future trend?

Among the other North Shore communities with whom we share residing on this list, all have made some improvement in five years. The increases were relatively marginal from .7% in Northfield to 3.3% in Deerfield, but they show some progress. Glenview alone appears to be going in the wrong direction. There appears to be no penalty for noncompliance other than our not meeting our moral obligation.

As elections approach, it once again appears to be up to the voters to ensure Glenview takes care of all residents, not just those whose taxes are greater. The bottom-line does not just relate to the budget in Glenview but to the better living for everyone. Glenview residents must ensure our representatives take the plan more seriously this time around. Our welcoming motto of “Hug the Bear” is going to be a memory rather than a motto if we don’t develop more housing open to all income levels.

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