Gov. Quinn's proposed capital budget offers too little for housing. The $26 billion proposal includes just $25 million in state funds–only one-tenth of 1 percent of this budget—for affordable housing in a state hard hit by foreclosures, tenant evictions, and rising homelessness.
Only about 294 units of affordable housing would be created with $25 million in state funding. If more money were available, plans are in place to start work almost immediately on 3,585 affordable homes and apartments across the state according to a statewide analysis released today. Those projects have total development costs of $756 million. Without a significant increase in state funding, many of the planned projects will never be developed including:
*Chicago Northwest Side: With 75 units for working families, Bickerdike Redevelopment’s Zapata Apartments will transform vacant lots on Armitage Avenue into 75 apartments (with “green” elements and high energy-efficiency features) with first-floor storefronts. This project could begin construction in 2009 with full funding.
*Suburban Broadview: 84 low-income senior apartments developed by CEDA, Inc. of Cook County.
Joy Aruguete, executive director of Bickerdike Redevelopment talks about the urgent need to complete the Zapata Apartments. “There is a profound need for affordable housing in our communities right now. When Bickerdike opened its waiting list for our housing in late March, over 5,000 people lined up for hours in advance for a chance to wait up to 5 years for an affordable home.
“We were very disappointed to learn that such a small amount was included for housing,” said Julie Dworkin, Director of Policy for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “Advocates, housing developers and state legislators have been pushing for the past two years for $500 million in the capital budget. California recently bonded $2.85 billion for housing and Massachusetts committed $170 million in its capital budget for just one year.”
Developers working to create affordable housing have had more difficulty than ever putting together their financing due to decreasing resources from the state’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund and a decrease in the value of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Furthermore, the need is growing with 722,000 households in Illinois—one in every six—paying more than half its income for housing.
Not only does the token amount for housing fail to make a dent in the need, it also misses the opportunity to create jobs and jump-start the economy. The National Association of Homebuilders estimates that 1.16 full-time jobs are created for every unit of multi-family housing built.
Since the release of his capital budget, Quinn has committed to advocates that he will push for an increased amount in the final budget although he has not specified a dollar amount. A $500 million investment in affordable housing would create approximately 5,882 homes and apartments statewide.
The development analysis is attached as a PDF file and is available at http://www.housingactionil.org/downloads/developmentanalysisfinal.pdf.
