To lay the groundwork for the
GO TO 2040 regional plan , the Chicago
Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) has issued a series of reports examining
specific tools and policies that could help the region meet its changing and
growing needs. This article builds off CMAP’s 2008 Inclusionary Zoning Strategy
Report.
In 2008,
CMAP's Inclusionary
Zoning Strategy Report
modeled two different scenarios, both of which showed
tens of thousands of affordable homes could be created by 2030 if most
municipalities in Chicagoland implemented inclusionary zoning policies.
In use in the U.S. since 1974, and in Illinois since
2003 (when Highland Park blazed the trail), inclusionary zoning encourages or
requires the inclusion of affordable homes in residential developments. Distinct
from more traditional housing policies in that it primarily relies on private
developers to produce affordable homes, inclusionary zoning, if properly
structured, can be a very effective way to ensure affordable homes are more
evenly
and equitably distributed throughout
a
geographic area. In
Illinois, this
policy has been implemented
community by community. MPC and other organizations involved in workforce housing
efforts have assisted municipalities such as St. Charles, Lake Forest,
Chicago, and Evanston forward their own inclusionary zoning efforts. Yet,
looking ahead, there seems to be significant potential for this policy approach to
have a regional impact if integrated into broader regional planning
efforts.
The results of the two modeling scenarios
in CMAP’s Inclusionary Zoning Strategy Report (based on 2030 demographic and
housing projections) support this premise:
Scenario 1: A 10 percent inclusionary
zoning set aside for all new residential developments in every municipality in
the region would net 50,693 additional units by 2030.
Scenario 2: If the region instituted a
three-tiered inclusionary zoning approach based on need, a projected 53,029
additional affordable homes would be developed. Communities with the least
amount of existing affordable housing would require 20 percent of units in all
new developments to be affordable, middle-tiered communities would require 10
percent, and communities with an ample supply of affordable housing would not
implement an inclusionary policy at all.
These results show that both can produce
a significant amount of new affordable homes in mixed-income developments, with
the second scenario edging out the first as far as overall affordable home
production.
CMAP and other regional planning
advocates can take the analysis a step further, by examining how a regional
inclusionary zoning approach can support additional policy goals, such as
connecting homes, jobs and transportation; or supporting workforce and
transportation development. As the CMAP inclusionary zoning report rightly
points out, “To properly address affordable housing shortages and income
inequity across communities, other housing and economic development policies
must work in concert with [inclusionary zoning].”
Through its GO TO 2040 regional plan
and related regional scenario development, education and technical
assistance efforts, and data clearinghouse and analysis capacity, CMAP can
connect the dots, showing how inclusionary zoning can help the region meet
multiple indicators of success. This could mean identifying “high impact” or
“priority” communities by applying a similar analysis as in the two scenarios
above, but also incorporating criteria such as proximity to job centers and
transportation access. Then, as part of its own technical assistance efforts and
coordination, CMAP can work with partner organizations to reach out to these
high-impact communities (i.e., those with job and transportation assets) to
promote inclusionary zoning and the complementary policy tools and programs that
other communities in the region have put in place to build there own capacity to
make these policies a success.
