Two of Chicago's newest housing leaders, Lewis Jordan, CEO of CHA, and Ellen Sahli, commissioner of the Chicago Dept. of Housing, opened the forum, which featured a panel discussion with a national researcher, Dr. Thomas Boston, professor of Economics, Georgia Tech University; and local practitioners, Charles Hillman, assistant director of asset management, CHA; and Mary Wiggins, chair of the Residents' Central Advisory Council (CAC), and a member of the CHA Board of Commissioners. Pam Daniels-Halisi , senior vice president of community development lending at LaSalle/Bank ofAmerica, and MPC Housing Committee member, moderated the panel.

As the newly appointed CEO of CHA, Mr. Jordan expressed his excitement about working with CHA staff and partners, and building on the level of interest and support of so many stakeholders in making the Plan for Transformation a success. He spoke frankly about the poor quality of CHA's traditional public housing in the past, but emphasized a commitment to improving the physical quality of the housing, as well as higher expectations for residents' quality oflife. "Chicago is in the midst of the largest public housing redevelopment in the country," he said. While continuing to raise standards, "the foundation of CHA's vision should be quality of life for residents. When children become 18, CHA's goal is to make sure they have other options," saidJordan.

Commissioner Sahli connected the Plan for Transformation to the city's larger affordable housing agenda . Homes preserved and created through the Plan advance the city's overall affordable housing goals for both low and moderate-income families. Ms. Sahli, who has an extensive background in the supportive housing field, also highlighted the importance of combining rent subsidies with support services to help people increase their incomes.

Dr. Boston shared insights based on his four-year research of outcomes for Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) residents. Using data for every AHA household over the past 10 years, his research tracked indicators such as employment status, income, education, and poverty status over time and linked them to community indicators such as crime rates, poverty levels, and school quality. "When families have access to quality housing and neighborhoods, they have drastically different socio-economic outcomes," he said. Dr. Boston is in the initial stage of a similar study of CHA residents, funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Boston stressed the correlation between neighborhood stability and resident self-sufficiency. "Housing assistance alone will not lead to self-sufficiency," he said, and attention must be placed on broader service and community networks. He described other best practices for achieving the goal of self-sufficiency for residents and creating better neighborhoods, such as engaging public and private partners to improve original neighborhoods with necessary policies and to attract new investment. "In many communities, financing is easier to address than the sociology of making them successful," saidBoston.

Hillman outlined the overall physical, cultural, and economic goals of the Plan for Transformation for CHA leaseholders. As of the end of 2007, CHA has completed 65 percent of its goal to create 25,000 homes. Of that, CHA has renovated more than 2,000 units in traditional family properties , representing 43 percent of its goal for these sites.

Hillman described the comprehensive renovations-infrastructure, interior, exterior-that are completed, taking place or planned in a number of family properties including, Altgeld-Murray, Lawndale, and Washington Park Low-Rise homes. The cost of these renovations has increased significantly since the beginning of the Plan, with a current cost between $120,000 and $150,000 per unit. Along with investments in physical renovations, he said, "CHA wants to be comprehensive in its efforts and spends over $25 million of its own funds and from its partnerships on social services such as case management, children and youth services, and workforce development." These services and more are provided in all communities where CHA residents temporarily or permanently reside. Moreover, Hillman stressed that "all residents of Chicago have a lot to offer, including CHA families, and people should not be defined by their landlords."

Ms. Wiggins spoke from her perspective as a CHA resident, leader of the Resident's Central Advisory Council (CAC) and a member of the Board of Commissioners. She reiterated the goal to move all residents to self-sufficiency, including those living in the rehabbed family properties and stressed that all stakeholders are "working for the greater good of CHA residents." Given the large investments of CHA and its partners, she said, "No one is asking CHA to spend money and not hold residents accountable," but it's important to remember that "employment places have closed and residents are affected by the job market like other Chicagoans." Ms. Wiggins also emphasized "many CHA residents are successful and have moved on from public housing, but their stories are not told."

A brief Q&A session following the panelists' presentations touched on a variety of topics, including the additional supports and resources needed in the "rehabs," impact of the Plan for Transformation on children, and importance of the rehabs to the overall Plan for Transformation.

Even at the conclusion of a robust Q&A session, there was still tremendous appetite for further dialogue and debate. MPC explained there would be future opportunities to delve into the many topics touched on at the forum, such as building rehabilitation, property management, neighborhood redevelopment, social services, and resident engagement.

Disinvestment of manufacturing and commercial businesses and lack of new housing opportunities have hurt many of the neighborhoods that make up Joliet's 4^th and 5^th districts, an area that comprises much of the city's historic property. In November 2007, the Joliet City Council adopted the  Joliet Quality of Life Plan, which was crafted to address the community's challenges.

Informed by the input of more than 900 local residents and stakeholders, the plan takes an integrated approach to quality of life improvements in regard to housing, recreation, transportation, retail and industrial development, employment, public infrastructure, land use, education, human capital (including health care), crime prevention, and the needs of youth and the elderly. 

MPC worked with the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Teska Associates, and Partec Consulting Group to create the plan, which identified development  of Unity CDC as a principle recommendation to respond to the need for a proactive and equal partnership between the city and community in implementing needed improvements. The CDC will oversee and coordinate projects though neighborhood councils, and secure funding for the implementation of other Joliet Quality of Life Plan recommendations.

In 2008, MPC will focus on advancing policies that:

• increase transportation options– including walking, riding bikes, and taking transit – for residents and businesses across metropolitan Chicago, both to reduce congestion and curb emissions;
• create more great places in Illinois by identifying and promotinglow-cost, but highly effective strategies to improve planning efforts at the local, regional and state level; and
• engage the private sector in financing innovations that will serve and stabilize thelocal workforce, including affordable housing and transportation options.

Policy proposals set forth by MPC are built on a foundation of consensus-building. By partnering with civic organizations, community groups, business leaders, and government agencies during all three stages of policy development – research, advocacy and implementation – MPC for decadeshasbeen an effective agent for regional policy change.

For more information about MPC's Policy Agenda - Opportunity Knocks , contact Peter Skosey, vice president of external relations, at (312) 863-6004 or pskosey@metroplanning.org.

Joanna Trotter, Manager, MPC Community Building Initiative

My New Year's resolution is to foster greater cooperation between communities in the region.

My hope for our region is that we begin to work across municipal boundaries for the greater economic and social well being of the entire Chicagoland area. Toward this end, I will help communities work together to pool resources in order to create high-quality affordable housing in areas with good job opportunities, such as the north and northwest satellite cities.

I also will work with communities that are jointly attracting new economic development and investments to areas that historically have struggled to bring in new business, industry, and quality jobs, such as those along the Calumet River. By working together and not competing, communities will be more apt to identify their individual strengths and unique place in our regional market and will collectively attract resources and use them more efficiently.

Michael McLaughlin, Director of Regional Policy and Transportation

With federal and state transportation dollars flat-lining and losing their purchasing power, we need to find ways to stretch those dollars even further. "Congestion pricing" is a mechanism proven worldwide to manage demand for roads and other transportation modes. In 2008, cities such as New York, San Francisco, Miami and Seattle likely will join the growing ranks of metropolitan areas that will implement congestion pricing.

The Chicago region should develop and coalesce around a comprehensive congestion pricing strategy this year, so that 2009 will become the year of implementation of congestion pricing in the region. MPC will explore the possibilities for congestion pricing in our region by partnering with the Toll Highway Authority to study the effects of congestion pricing on Chicagoland's toll road network. MPC also will establish peer exchanges and forums with other cities around the nation and world to highlight best practices with regard to congestion pricing and related transit and road improvements.

Karin Sommer , Associate

The focus for my first year at MPC will be on creating and sustaining great places in Chicago. Three projects specifically address this goal: Placemaking; A New North Lawndale; and our emerging transit-oriented development initiative.

The Placemaking project will establish a curriculum for creating and maintaining great public spaces in Chicago through the production of a guidebook, trainings, and technical assistance to Chicago neighborhood groups.

A New North Lawndale deals with street design, using the redevelopment of Ogden Avenue into a pedestrian-friendly corridor as a catalyst for change inChicago's North Lawndale community.

The transit-oriented development initiative will build upon our successfulJan. 10th roundtable, "Within Our Reach: Your World in Half a Mile," to encourage and implement more development near transit inChicago.

Katherine Bucar , Graphic Design Associate

I resolve to streamline MPC's communication to board, donors, partners, and friends; and further develop MPC's targeted electronic communications. In 2008, MPC will increase the availability of our information online – and, in so doing, reduce paper waste! Beginning later this month, we will introduce a new monthly e-mail newsletter that consolidates two existing communiqués, and complements our printed, tri-annual Regional Connection newsletter, as well as our quarterly reports to the board.

Lillie Jernigan, Consultant, Employer-Assisted Housing

In 2008, I'm excited to continue building on the momentum from the work MPC started in 2007 under the Charter One Workforce Housing Initiative in Chicago's northwest and northern suburbs. Partnering with 10 municipalities and not-for-profit housing experts, the traction for this initiative is strong and will continue to grow this year as we work with area employers to develop public-private housing resources for area families.

Under this initiative in the northwest suburbs of Mt. Prospect, Palatine, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, and Buffalo Grove, the partner is Housing Opportunity Development Corporation (HODC). HODC is also the main partner in the northern suburbs of Deerfield, Highwood, Highland Park, Lake Forest , and Northbrook , along with the Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County (AHC).

In addition to convening employers through unified outreach, several of these communities are moving forward with their own unique contributions to the supply of affordable workforce housing. Throughout 2008, I will be working closely with municipal staff and our housing expert partners to take employer interest and activity around workforce housing in these communities to the next level.

Josh Ellis, Community Building Associate

By improving MPC's research, analysis, and presentation capabilities, I hope to help communities better understand and visualize the steps they can take to make more equitable, sustainable and sensible choices about the future. Between our publications, such as the forthcoming Housing 1-2-3; the hands-on training workshops that go with them; and original research and analysis, my hope is that any kind of community – from fast-growing suburbs to more established, yet disinvested, communities – will be better equipped to tackle any development challenge.

Kristi DeLaurentiis, Manager of Local Government and Community Relations

Many municipalities have moved ahead on their plans to create livable, vibrant communities. Some, following extensive planning processes, are already implementing the forward-looking strategies that are needed to get them there. Others are learning from their neighbors in the region or looking elsewhere across the globe, what it takes to tackle particularly thorny challenges that impact residents and businesses.

My New Year's resolution is to showcase Illinois communities leading the way, where planning and innovative strategies make a difference in the character of the place and people's lives; and examine measures that can help others along the way.

More than 100 stakeholders and residents representing Chicago's Near North, Near West, and Mid-South sides participated in the launch, which also drew representatives from the Chicago departments of Transportation and Planning and Development, Chicago Housing Authority, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Ill. Dept. of Transportation, and RTA. A number of state and local elected officials attended the half-day convening, including Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward), Ill. Sens. Kwame Raoul and Mattie Hunter, and Ill. Rep. Ken Dunkin.

ShoreBank Vice Chairman Todd Brown, a member of MPC's Board of Governors, who co-chairs Reconnecting Neighborhoods with DPD Commissioner Arnold Randall, said the public and private sector involvement demonstrated at the launch event is what's necessary to tackle the tough questions this project intends to tackle.

"Some of you may be sitting here wondering why we should start such an effort when we are in the middle of a funding crisis at both the state and the local level, especially regarding our transit system," Brown said. "My answer would be that funding problems are only symptomatic of deeper systemic issues, there is no better time to reassess assets and resources than in a crisis, and Reconnecting Neighborhoods is a step toward adjusting how we think about the cost and management of transit, retail, urban development, public services."

"This Reconnecting Neighborhoods planning process will lead to recommendations for specific improvement," explained Randall. "It will also provide an opportunity for neighbors to meet each other – and with officials from city and state agencies – to create a genuine consensus on how to rebuild these neighborhoods around their strengths."

The Partnership for New Communties, a project partner and supporter, has prepared a summary of the Reconnecting Neighborhoods launch, available on the PNC Web site.

The November 6th event was only the beginning of Reconnecting Neighborhoods. Moving forward, MPC will be working closely with the residents, employers and elected officials in the three neighborhoods to develop recommendations for access to transit, jobs and other essential opportunities that reflect their collective vision of what their neighborhoods can be.

To learn more about the Reconnecting Neighborhoods project, visit www.reconnectingneighborhoods.org.

Built in the 1950s, the 397-unit Pacesetter townhome development was initially built to attract employees of the nearby Acme Steel Mill. The owners of Pacesetter quickly faced financial difficulties, and by 1960, all of the homes had been sold to individual owners. Over the next 30 years, as Pacesetter became increasingly isolated from the rest of Riverdale, drugs and crime became prevalent in the neighborhood.

MPC has been involved in the Pacesetter redevelopment process since 2003, when Riverdale brought in the Campaign for Sensible Growth and the Urban Land Institute-Chicago to hold a Technical Assistance Panel. The panel advised Riverdale on available public and private financing options for the redevelopment, and was followed by a one-year commitment by panelists to counsel the village. Since 2004, MPC has advised the Village and the development team led by Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation.

Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans (far right) shows MPC staff around Pacesetter. 

Attended by state, county, and local officials, including Cook County President Todd Stroger and Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans, Tuesday's groundbreaking was a major success for all involved. The $38 million project included substantial support from many public and private lenders. Sarah Berke of the Chicago Community Loan Fund, which contributed a record $1 million loan, said, "Chicago Community Loan Fund is very proud to have been involved in this project. We hope its success can be emulated elsewhere."

Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans says the redevelopment of Pacesetter"marks the beginning of quality housing for working families. We are bringing in quality management for people that want to live, work and play in a great community. [Whistler Crossing] also marks the beginning of reinvestment in Metropolitan Chicago inner ring communities."

November 13 Whistler Crossing groundbreaking: Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans (third from left); Cook County President Todd Stroger (first on right); DeShana Forney, Ill. Housing Development Authority (second from left); Andre Ashmore, Ill. Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity(fifth from left); Lorri Newson, Turnstone Development (seventh from left); Doug Farr, Farr Associates (eighth from left); and Calvin Holmes, Chicago Community Loan Fund (to the right of Doug Farr). 

As Chicago pursues its Olympics bid, MPC's Luncheon will highlight the legacy opportunities the Olympics can bring to elevate our region's world-class status and economic competitiveness. Our Keynote Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell, MP Minister for the Olympics and London, oversees the Government Olympic Executive and chairs the Olympic Board and will speak to the great opportunity an Olympics bid can have to invest in a city's infrastructure and economy.

WHEN: Thursday, November 29, 2007 11:00 – 11:45 Reception 12:00 – 1:45 Luncheon and Program

WHERE: Grand Ballroom ( East Tower ) Hyatt Regency Chicago 151 East Wacker Drive

As our only fund raising event each year, the Annual Meeting Luncheon provides important financial support for Council programs. With the large cross section of almost 2,000 corporate, civic, government and community leaders and the wide media coverage this event attracts, it is a great opportunity forward to learning valuable lessons about legacy planning from London's experience.

General admission is $150 per ticket and $1,500 per table. Sponsorship tickets and tables are priced from $500 to $25,000. Download an advanced registration form describing table options and benefits at each level or call 312-553-2000 for purchase information.

by Jay Walljasper

My hope that day was to showcase inspiring examples of how everyday citizens made tremendous improvements in the place they call home by putting their heads together with neighbors to conceive new ideas for their neighborhoods and then rolling up their sleeves to put these into action.

A sunny, near perfect September day took me to Chicago, where the Metropolitan Planning Council had graciously invited me to talk about the role neighborhoods play in social change. That's the message of my new book The Great Neighborhood Book(New Society Publishers), written in partnership with my colleagues at Project for Public Spaces (PPS). "The citizens are the experts," has long been the PPS mantra, based on their 30 years of experience helping communities achieve their dreams of becoming safe, lively, livable, lovable places. This phrase reinforces the idea that architects, traffic engineers, public officials planners and other professionals have valuable contributions to make towards neighborhood revitalization efforts, but when their plans turn a deaf ear to a community's own aspirations for the future, the results often fall far short of the goals.

The Great Neighborhood Book offers hundreds of examples of how neighborhood residents all over the country came up with sweeping visions and practical proposals for positive change in their communities. This is what I talked about to a warmly receptive audience at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, which co-sponsored my appearance along with the Metropolitan Planning Council with funding in part from the National Endowment for the Arts. I was impressed with the diverse background and interests of the people I met that afternoon, which ranged from an agricultural economist to an environmental anthropologist to a neighborhood activist working on a fascinating project in Northeastern Indiana with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

My hope that day was to showcase inspiring examples of how everyday citizens made tremendous improvements in the place they call home by putting their heads together with neighbors to conceive new ideas for their neighborhoods and then rolling up their sleeves to put these into action.

• In the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, a man helped transformed his neighborhood simply by putting a bench in his front yard. The first thing he noticed is that older people were walking around the block again because they had a spot to rest along the way. Then he saw other people stopping to talk to one another at the bench, increasing the community spirit of the area. Then, several other of his neighbors added benches to their yard, giving the whole block a more convivial feel.
• In the city of Delft in the Netherlands, a group of neighbors were fed up with cars speeding down their street so one evening, under the cover of darkness, they dragged old couches and tables into the middle of the street. They arranged the furniture in a way that did not block the traffic but did force it to slow down as drivers had to negotiate their way around these objects. Shortly, the police arrived and, while noting that this action was clearly illegal, also admitted it was a really good idea. Soon, the municipal government was creating their own more permanent version of the neighbors' old furniture-and the idea of traffic calming was born. It is now used all over the world to make streets safer for everyone by helping drivers slow down and recognize that the street is not just for cars.
• In Philadelphia, artist Lilly Yeh was confronted with despair at the sight of rubble all over a neighborhood on the city's north side. She decided she must do something and began cleaning up one vacant lot. Local kids watched her with interest and were soon helping her turn this squalid property into an unofficial park and gathering spot. The project grew into the Village of Arts and Humanities, which has created many small parks and public art projects around the area as well as youth, theater, music and job training programs.

As varied as the examples in the book are-geographically, demographically and culturally-there are some common elements that can make a difference in any neighborhood.

Public gathering places: People need places where they can spontaneously and comfortably get to know their neighbors.

Walkability: It's hard to make a connection with people from behind a windshield. Face-to-face encounters are what spark neighborliness. Plus, as Jane Jacobs taught us almost a half-century ago, people on the street are the best deterrent to crime and other social problems.

Social capital: The liveliest, healthiest neighborhoods have one thing in common: People living there are involved in a wide variety of social interactions. These don't have to be activist or cause-oriented groups. Any kind of organization, from a church choir to a card club to a sports league which brings people together will strengthen the social fabric of your community.

A couple of sparkplugs: Two or three dedicated citizens are often all it takes to get things going. When they begin talking to their neighbors about a problem or an opportunity around the neighborhood, things take off from there.

Joining me at the microphone after my remarks were representatives of three neighborhood projects in Chicago whose experience wonderfully reinforced all the points I made about the power of neighborhoods to change the world.

Gardens for All

Pamela van Giessen and Alison Zehr from the Rogers Park Garden Group chronicled the remarkable success of this new organization on the city's far north side in encouraging not just backyard flower and vegetable patches but in reclaiming a neglected city park by creating a gorgeous public garden. This all-volunteer effort, conducted with the approval but little direct help from the Chicago Park Board, has instilled the neighborhood with a new sense of pride and beauty-a major accomplishment for a group less than two years old.

Bike Trails for All

Next, Keith Holt offered his experience in guiding efforts to create a new rails-to-trails bikeway through the South Side of Chicago. Named the Major Taylor Bicycle Trail, for a legendary African-American bike racer who broke all records in the late 19th century, the project hopes to overcome the stigma in minority communities that biking is a white, middle-class pastime. The trail itself was created in spite of safety fears, landowners' opposition and widespread cynicism, finally opened this past summer. It is now enjoyed by bicyclists and walkers of all ages, incomes, and ethnic backgrounds. Holt says, "These are neighborhoods where not many people can enjoy a health club. The trail makes a difference in people's lives and the health of the community."

Every Block is A Village

Then Adell Young , who exhibited equal amounts of shyness at speaking before a crowd and innate forcefulness, stood up to tell a story about her Austin neighborhood on the West Side. She confessed that she had long avoided contact with people on her block out of shame over her son, who was out on the street every day selling drugs. But when things got so bad she finally reached out to her neighbors in desperation, she found that many of them were in the same sad situation. As parents and relatives, they realized they had some influence over the dealers in the street. So they organized a potluck dinners-exactly what helped revive my neighborhood back in Minneapolis-to work out a strategy. Their first step was to offer bowls of chili to the dealers as a symbol that wholesome food will save them while more drugs will eventually kill them. It was a bold move-a group of mostly older women coming out with a pot of chili-and made a statement that the street belongs to everyone. "We showed them what they were doing to our homes," she recalled, and after a number of evenings when neighbors stood witness to their dreams of a drug-free community, the chastened drug peddlers left the block. There was no confrontation, just the moral authority of people standing up for what they want.

These efforts soon blossomed into an informal organization called Every Block's A Village, which is now active on more than 50 blocks of the Austin neighborhood. These groups don't limit themselves to clearing the streets of dealers, they tackle other pressing issues such as the lack and health care services. Out of this has come the West Side Wellness Center, which offers preventive health programs, a dialysis center and other health care needs missing in the neighborhood. The idea for the Center began in the Village Block clubs, who got the ball rolling with $33,000 raised through raffles sales and chicken dinners.

A group of concerned mothers, aunts, fathers and cousins standing up to the unhealthy traffic of drugs in Austin, turned into a positive effort to improve the community's health. Although bashful at the beginning of her talk, Adell Young was full of fire by the time she finished.

Excited by these stories of neighborhood empowerment, I decided that someone should do a follow-up: The Great Chicago Neighborhood Book.

The Great Neighborhood Book can be ordered at www.pps.org . Jay Walljasper is senior fellow at Project for Public Spaces, executive editor of Ode magazine, and writes extensively about urban issues.

To listen to an audio recording of the event, please visit Chicago Amplified.

For more information about MPC's placemaking work, contact Peter Skosey, MPC vice president of external relations.

Yes, the state's Comprehensive Housing and Planning Act movedIllinois closer to a sensible way of encouraging local responses to the profound shortage of affordable housing.  And yes, this legislation   -- especially through the Illinois Housing Development Authority -- continues to seed numerous initiatives beginning to address the profound demand for supportive housing, senior housing, preservation, and other key priorities.

But several key principles of the Comprehensive Housing and Planning Act are still unfulfilled – most notably its focus on incentives for local leaders, especially those outside the housing arena.  ("Can 'Live Near Work' work better?" describes the state's need to step up its overall "live near work" strategy .)

Good Housing, Good Schools can provide financial incentives to the school districts in towns supporting the rehab or development of quality, affordable, multifamily homes. For example, a school district in a community that approves a 45-unit two or three-bedroom condominium or apartment building could receive over $60,000 – enough to pay for an extra teacher.

Too many young families in Illinois are struggling to achieve the most basic of dreams: finding an attractive neighborhood with both housing they can afford and schools they can trust. Good Housing, Good Schools will help ensure more communities in Illinois fit this bill and advance the goals of the state's Comprehensive Housing and Planning Act.

With the bill signed into law, the next step is to get this legislation funded, optimally through the Illinois State Board of Education.  Given that teachers themselves stand to gain from this legislation --  as demonstrated by popularity of the Chicago Public Schools employer-assisted housing program – and that mixed-income housing itself benefits schools, ISBE clearly has more to gain than to lose from this modest investment in this potentially major implications.

Why major?  Since a similar piece of legislation was put into effect in Massachussetts last January, over 1,500 homes were approved in "high job districts," which are comparable to Illinois "live near work" communities.  Similar approval rates would be profound in Illinois, where this legislation can also benefit redeveloping communities in addition to those near job centers. 

As one of the wealthiest communities in Illinois, many are surprised to learn that over the last three years, Lake Forest has quietly passed a series of innovative housing policies to institutionalize the development of mixed-income housing in the city. With the adoption of a comprehensive housing plan in 2005, Lake Forest set the stage to phase in a number of local and regional housing initiatives that will help to ensure local workers and seniors can continue to live the city. After adopting the affordable housing plan, the city established an Ad Hoc Housing Committee that led the charge in establishing the following policies:

• Inclusionary Zoning (2005): Requires 15 percent of the homes in all residential developments of over five units be affordable to households earning 80 percent or below the Area Median Income ($59,600 for a family of four in 2007). As part of the ordinance, there are alternative options for developers to build off-site or pay a fee in-lieu of building all of the required homes on site.
• Housing Trust Fund (2006): Provides financial resources to address the housing needs of individuals and families of low and moderate-income by promoting, preserving, and producing long-term affordable housing; providing housing-related services; and, providing support for not-for-profit organizations that actively address the city's affordable housing needs.
• Demolition Tax (2006): Assesses a $10,000 tax for the demolition of single and two-family homes and $5,000 per unit for multi-unit buildings, which is allocated directly to the Lake Forest Housing Trust Fund.

In 2007, the City of Lake Forest engaged the Metropolitan Planning Council's Community Building Initiative to help the city define its role in the regionally significant redevelopment of the former Barat College Campus, the first residential development subject to the city's new inclusionary zoning ordinance. A complex project, the 23-acre, approximately120-unit Barat redevelopment will include not only mixed-income housing, but historic preservation and environmental protection components as well. To guide this effort, MPC recruited a task force of experts, chaired by Nicholas Brunick of Applegate and Thorne-Thomsen, P.C. to provide advice about successfully integrating affordable and moderately-priced homes into this luxury development; creating a greater range of housing price points on-site; supplemental financing options; and, appropriate roles for the developer, city, and potential non-profit service and development partners.

Some of the Metropolitan Planning Council's Lake Forest Task Force recommendations included:

• Close the price gap between inclusionary homes and high-end market-rate units through increased density, a variety of housing types on site, and changes to some of the more expensive design elements, such as one elevator per townhome
• Work with the Illinois Housing Development Authority to utilize the state donation's tax credit as a way to maximize the value of the development through a transfer of those credits from the developer to the city's housing trust fund
• Institute an association structure that protects affordable homeowners from being overburdened by assessments and work with the local township to assess the affordable properties at a lower rate
• Work with local employers to invest directly in the development and provide assistance to their employees to purchase some of the moderately-priced and affordable homes.
• Institute processes and partnerships to monitor the affordability and tenant selection.

The redevelopment of the Barat campus site will be the largest that Lake Forest has seen and will see in a while. Ensuring that this property has a healthy mix of high-end, moderately-priced, and affordable homes will be president setting for not only the city, but also for other North shore communities and the region.

Due to these new housing policies and the regional significance of this site, Lake Forest, boasting the fourth highest family income in Illinois, has now emerged as an affordable housing leader. In June, Mayor Michael Rummel joined four neighboring communities - Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, and Northbrook - to engage North shore employers in both helping meet the demand for workforce housing through employer-assisted housing and contributing to increasing the supply of affordable homes through public-private partnerships and direct investment in housing development. In addition, Mayor Rummel spoke to a national audience in August at an event organized by the National Housing Conference to discuss the vital links between affordable housing development and transportation access.

As more and more communities throughout the region begin to grapple with complex affordable housing challenges, it is nice to know that even the wealthiest communities recognize that a diverse housing stock is essential to a balanced, healthy, and economically strong region.

The Chicago region has typically sought to build our way out of traffic jams and crowded streets. The state continues to build new roads and expand existing streets and highways, while the region tries to compensate by adding more transit service. It seems like we're always behind, struggling to catch up with even more demand for moving people further and further out in the region. There's never enough money to keep up with the demand, and sprawl continues apace. The explanation for this frustrating vicious circle is explained in a paper by Robert Johnson, who is a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the Universityof California,Davis:

"The most-effective policy sets combine land use policies, such as compact growth, with strong transit provision and not expanding highway capacity. The addition of auto pricing policies, such as fuel taxes, work trip parking charges, or all-day tolls increases the effectiveness of the land use and transit policies. Peak-period tolls, by themselves, increase travel. Expanding road capacity, along with transit capacity, but without changing market incentives to encourage more efficient use of existing roads and parking, results in expensive transit systems with low ridership." – "Review of U.S. and European Regional Modeling Studies of Policies Intended to Reduce Motorized Travel, Fuel Use, and Emissions" Robert A. Johnston, August 2006

Prof. Johnson's reference to "market incentives to encourage more and efficient use of existing roads and parking" is commonly known as congestion pricing. The concept has been around for many years but has become especially popular as of late as major cities like London and Stockholm have implemented a form of the tool, and New York City and other U.S. cities and regions pursue plans to implement various types of congestion pricing. If you are new to the concept and are interested in quickly acquainting yourself with the basics, including case studies of on-the-ground uses of the tool, click through the suggested reading list below.

Suggested Reading

"Road Pricing" Victoria Transport Policy Institute

World Review of Road Pricing

• Phase 1 – Lessons for the UK
• Phase 2 – Case Studies
• Phase 2 – Final Report

Federal Highway Administration's Urban Partnership Agreement program

IMPACTS conference on transportation

- The parking equilibrium equation presented by Prof. Donald Shoup, Department of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles

At a June 5 roundtable co-hosted by the Metropolitan Planning Council and Chicago Architecture Foundation, a panel of experts described the challenges of solving this equation for their communities. Dr. Rachel Weinberger, professor at PennDesign at the University of Pennsylvania and former private industry expert, Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th Ward), and Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward) discussed practical ways to create great neighborhood retail centers by managing parking demand.

More and more successful cities and towns have given up on trying to accommodate more demand for driving by building more highways, widening streets, and increasing parking supply. They've learned that building more room for driving just fills up with even more cars, which leaves the city or town back at square one. So they're taking a different tack and developing ways to manage demand for driving while still increasing the number of people shopping in their retail districts. After all, though the transportation engineering industry does not require or even encourage keeping statistics on this, most successful urban retail districts already have a solid base of people walking, biking, taking cabs, and taking the train or bus to the area. And their desire to shop at the retail district more often is directly impacted by the quality of their experience. You don't need an equation to figure out that sidewalks that have been slashed with curb cuts and parking lots to accommodate more parking decreases foot traffic.

Dr. Weinberger kicked off the event by dispelling many of the myths about parking demand. She noted that communities have been lamenting the perceived parking shortage since the early 20th Century. Dr. Weinberger, who has worked on a variety of parking management projects for the public and private sector, emphasized that communities that focus solely on increasing parking will likely fail to act in the best interest of promoting local economic development and quality of life. Communities that focus on maximizing access, however – whether it be in the form of people walking, taking the bus, biking, driving, taking the train, or arriving by cab – are likely to create the foot traffic that boosts local sales and makes the shopping area lively and inviting. Maximizing access requires prioritizing the most efficient travel options, like walking, over the most destructive, and then managing demand for those options that are most likely to have a negative impact on the shopping area and actively increasing options that will have a positive impact.

Ald. Laurino and Ald. Preckwinkle, both of whom have been leaders in considering the implementation of Transportation Enhancement Districts inChicago, discussed the practical local challenges of managing parking demand while boosting overall access to the shopping area. Transportation Enhancement Districts (TEDs) maximize parking availability by setting the price of on-street parking to a level that ensures there is always a space available, and then returning the additional revenue from the meters to the local community to use for improving access to the district.

After their remarks, the panelists had a lively discussion with the audience about the impact of looming transit service cuts and other practical issues on the feasibility of implementing Transportation Enhancement Districts and other parking management tools in the Chicago region.

Watch the video of Parking 101 , courtesy of CAN-TV.

Learn more about Transportation Enhancement Districts .

View a diagram of the cycle of car-oriented development .

View a diagram of the cycle of people-oriented development .

This roundtable was generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

MarySue Barrett, MPC president, welcomed panelists and attendees, and Commissioner Lori Healey of the Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development (DPD) and Carl Byrd, CHA director of management, made opening remarks. Joseph Williams, president of Granite Development Corp., and MPC Resource Board member, moderated the panel featuring:

• Don Carter, president of Urban Design Associates (Pittsburgh, Pa.);
• Peter Levavi, vice president of Brinshore Development,and MPC Housing Committee member; and
• Shirley Newsome, chair of the North Kenwood-Oakland Conservation Community Council.

Carl Byrd, Joseph Williams, Don Carter, Peter Levavi and Shirley Newsome

Williams highlighted MPC's position that the relationship between "bricks and mortar" and residents' lives must be "in harmony" and reminded the audience of MPC's long-term commitment to being "part of the solution" as mixed-income communities flourish in Chicago. Outlining his work with Granite Development Corp., Williams admitted community planning is both "excruciating and extraordinary." Planning and design play a significant and strategic role in success, and "we only win if the community process wins."

Comm. Healey stressed DPD works to bring public institutions into neighborhoods to serve as anchors for development. Land  use, selection and design are critical so that new mixed-income communities "blend in" with the surrounding neighborhood. The focus is on creating housing because "without rooftops, you don't get the retail," which drives additional commercial development and jobs. The built environment is about more than housing, Comm. Healey said; "it's about creating neighborhoods with the opportunity to live, shop and work." She also highlighted the need to establish strong transportation hubs in communities where the region's transit networks have been underutilized for decades.

Byrd emphasized that "CHA residents are citizens of Chicago first," and despite its past "dismal record," CHA is working to "re-engage residents and communities back into the fabric of the city." According to Byrd, over 60 percent of CHA's Plan for Transformation is complete, with 9,500 units of senior housing and 2,500 scattered sites rehabilitated by the beginning of 2007. He acknowledged that the development of mixed-income sites has taken more time than the rehabilitation of other sites because it requires collaboration between city agencies and departments, developers, community groups, and other stakeholders. Byrd's presentation demonstrated the success of three mixed-income sites at the family, development and neighborhood levels: West Haven Park (Henry Horner), Roosevelt Square (ABLA), and Oakwood Shores (Madden/Wells/Darrow). Byrd closed by saying, "What used to be a cautionary tale of two cities is now a story of integration and the end of isolation."

After Healey and Byrd's opening remarks, Williams asked panelists to address the following questions:

• What principles, methodology and techniques can be used to include the community's voice into the final plan, from inception to "final product"?
• What is the relationship between the bricks and mortar of a new development and the well-being of its diverse residents?
• How do community residents, developers and planners knit together the new mixed-income communities and their surrounding neighborhoods, and how can the surrounding areas (and city) contribute to the success of these communities?

Don Carter, of Urban Design Associates (UDA) in Pittsburgh, began by commending Chicago for its efforts to create opportunities for public dialogue such as the day's forum. He described UDA's extensive work in building mixed-income housing across the country, including in Pittsburgh, Pa.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Portsmouth, Va.; Baltimore, Md.; Louisville,  Ky.; Charlotte, N.C.; and even Chicago (at the former Madden/Wells site).

Carter's presentation outlined key principles for designing mixed-income communities, such as involving residents, respecting historical context and architectural precedents, providing connections within neighborhoods and to the surrounding community, developing and providing design guidelines, and enhancing neighborhood amenities. Moreover, he said, affordable and workforce housing must be dispersed within and indistinguishable from market-rate housing. As an important component of its work, UDA has created pattern books that offer guidelines and controls for builders and developers of mixed-income housing, and contribute to creative design and housing variety in these communities.

Excerpt from UDA Pattern Book

Carter said the first principle of planning is resident involvement. "Sometimes you have to meet the people on their porches," he said. Community planning with broad-based participation is a three-phase process: one, understanding what is going on currently; two, exploring new ideas; and three, deciding what to do. Developers are thus "facilitators of a process, not the dictators of a plan," he said. Carter described a case in which community residents were asked to label a neighborhood map with negative and positive areas as well as areas where they "want new things to happen." Carter concluded by sharing Maine's "design features of great American neighborhoods," which states neighborhoods should be walkable from end to end; have a civic core and mix of uses, an interconnected street network, recognizable boundaries, and housing variety; and provide for chance meetings and privacy.

The former Madden/Wells site in Chicago                                                                                     Plans for the new Oakwood Shores community in Chicago

Brinshore Development's Peter Levavi summarized three components of architecture and design of mixed-income communities based on lessons the company has learned: the decision-making process, macro-planning, and micro-planning. He reiterated the importance of community participation for legitimacy and support, but stated it is difficult to get "real, important and meaningful input" for a couple of reasons. Many people have pressing concerns or grievances that need to be addressed before they can focus on community planning. In addition, most are ill-equipped to have a technical discussion about architecture. To remedy this reality, Brinshore uses Image Preference Surveys to solicit public input through a series of slides that are ranked by participants on a scale of 1 to 5 according to their desirability. After the initial survey, a new slide show is created and the images are ranked again. Levavi commented that these surveys show "how much shared vision there really is between income groups."

For site planning and building design, Levavi recommended a few best practices, including: creating solid streetwalls, i.e., avoiding gaps between buildings that become no man's territory; designing buildings that face the street so people can see what's going on from their homes; rearranging Chicago's typically narrow residential lots in a creative manner to provide private outdoor space; and including diverse residential designs by using a team of architects instead of just one firm.

In his experience, Levavi said backyards attached to individual units work better than large, communal areas of open space because they promote each resident's sense of ownership. A variety of building designs help create a sense of uniqueness and attachment to units and buildings. Levavi also stressed the concepts of universal design to accommodate the needs of diverse households and green initiatives for energy-efficient plans that contribute to sustainability while reducing utility bills – a significant expense, especially for low-income residents. He acknowledged that public housing redevelopment can be "fantastically expensive," but explained the task of building mixed-income communities is an "iterative process in which we learn more from each development."

Shirley Newsome shared her experience in community planning in the North Kenwood-Oakland area,on Chicago's South Side. The neighborhood has an ideal location on the Lkefront and also is a designated historical district. Efforts to rebuild public housing in the neighborhood began before the onset of CHA's Plan, and it is now home to three mixed-income sites: Lake ParkCrescent, Jazz on the Boulevard, and Oakwood Shores.Newsome highlighted a few key strategies for making the community planning process successful: have elected officials involved "at every step along the way;" establish personal relationships with residents; respect different leadership styles in each community; involve residents in more than housing planning such as schools and parks; and keep residents and community members informed through ongoing communication.

A brief Q&A session followed the panelists' presentations. Below is a sampling of topics that were discussed:

• Private vs. Community Space
  • Carter said in his experience, leftover spaces and undesignated common areas are generally "taken over" and became trouble spots in the communities. He also clarified that open space can work if it is well-designed and thoughtfully managed. Newsome agreed, and said that because of quality design and management, open spaces are not problem areas in the redeveloped North Kenwood-Oakland community.

• Unit Accessibility
  • Carter said the Congress for the New Urbanism is currently working with a U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development task force to address the issue of accessibility and "visitability." In traditional neighborhoods, there are usually steps to a front porch; however there are alternate ways to make buildings more accessible such as side entrances.

• Creating Indistinguishable Units
  • Levavi said he does not consider making market-rate and subsidized homes indistinguishable a challenge, but acknowledged that "the bar has been raised for rental units in mixed-income communities." Amenities such as dishwashers and washer/dryer hookups are expected. He also said market-rate and affordable housing renters often have lower expectations than public housing residents in terms of room size, and it has been more of a challenge to attract public housing renters to the new homes than market-rate or affordable renters. Newsome pointed out the units are identical in one of the mixed-income sites in the North Kenwood-Oakland area because any unit could be for a public housing, affordable, or market-rate buyer.

The Council presents the Burnham Award annually to a plan that promotes and implements sensible growth and development policies, incorporates active public participation, provides long-term community benefits, and breaks new ground, inspiring others to adopt best practices. MPC presented the 2006 Burnham Award to Bethel New Life, Inc for its Parkside Estate/Lake & Pulaski plan. In 2005, the Burnham Award was presented to City of Waukegan for its Lakefront-Downtown Urban Design Plan; in 2004, to the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development for its Calumet Area Land Use Plan; in 2003, to the Illinois Institute of Technology for its Campus Master Plan; and in 2002, the award went to Will County for its Land Resource Management Plan. Click here for a complete list of past Burnham Award winners.

"For more than 70 years, the Metropolitan Planning Council has advocated for plans that foster communities where people want to live, work and play," said Peter Skosey, MPC vice president of external affairs. "By recognizing innovators with the Burnham Award, we encourage local leaders, developers, and planners to aim high to create models befitting a world class region."

MPC presents the winner with a $5,000 cash prize at its Annual Meeting Luncheon, the Council's sole fundraiser.

Nominations for the 2007 Burnham Award are due to the Council by 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Complete guidelines are available by downloading the nomination form.

The Burnham Award Selection Committee will evaluate the nominations and select a recipient based on the given criteria.

The groundwork for this transformation was laid in 2003, when village leaders invited the Urban Land Institute-Chicago and Campaign for Sensible Growth to convene a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) to assist with increasing the viability of the newly created DownTown. The industry experts who comprised the panel offered several workable strategies as reported in Building on the Legacy: Creating a New DownTown. In the few short years since the TAP took place, many of the recommendations have been implemented, creating a new legacy in historic Park Forest.

TAP Recommendation: Lengthen village board terms of office from three years to four.

Aware of the development community's need for continuity and predictability, panelists expressed concern that Park Forest's term lengths and election cycle potentially created turnover every year and discouraged investment. By changing its statute for term of office (supported by 54 percent in March 2004), Park Forest now has a cycle where the mayor and board are all elected to serve four-year terms. The development community benefits from improved stability and continuity of goals, and political support; while locals are better served by elected officials who are thoroughly invested in the community's projects and develop goals by consensus. This change facilitated many of the next steps taken by the village in order to ensure success of its Legacy Square subdivision. With even its name plucked from the TAP report, Legacy Square will bring " new homes, new families and new shoppers to the DownTown Park Forest area."

These nearly sold-out single family homes and live/work units - combining 500 sq. ft. of work space on the first floor, with two-bedroom living space on the second floor - provide options for both home, office, small retail use or an artist studio or gallery; and indicate the demand for new housing choices within Park Forest. As importantly, they bring new residents who can sustain the shopping and entertainment district.

TAP Recommendation: Remove the "sea" of parking that has had a blighting effect on DownTown and assemble larger parcel to attract major developer.

Bigelow Homes' redevelopment agreement for the former Victoria Place included an option to use the south mall parking lot area and the old Marshall Fields building for a Phase II plan for Legacy Square. The village is currently reviewing concept plans that will transform the parking lots and department store site into single-family homes, live/work units or condos, with the timeline for Phase II construction beginning as early as summer 2007. The increase in new homes in DownTown Park Forest will provide the necessary "rooftops" to allow the retail market along Main Street to flourish.

In addition, the village seeks to bring development to another vacant property on the north side of the former mall, off Main Street . Support for a mixed-use development of this kind, with retail at street level and two-to-three-story residences above, was primed by the TAP process, through recommendations to increase residential density and provide for commercial-residential flexibility.

TAP Recommendation: Reduce the amount of retail space, cluster tenants with complementary uses and improve signage along retail corridor.

Recognizing that Park Forest is no longer a regional shopping destination, with its downtown functioning more as a specialty convenience center, panelists advised village officials to reduce the available retail space by more than a third. Bigelow Homes' Phase II plan for Legacy Square eliminates over 110,000 square feet of vacant retail space from the village's current inventory with its use of the former Marshall Fields building. Clustering "like uses" along Main Street creates a more vibrant corridor, and current business success stories - multiple doctors' offices, hair salons, art galleries, shops, restaurants and more - prove this method makes the most of a diverse market. Upstairs office space also houses service provider companies and other merchants, businesses that never would have made use of the former large anchor mall space.

Following the TAP, the village moved to install two major gateway signs for the east and west entry-ways to define the DownTown area. The village also is incorporating newly designed way-finding signs along arterials that traverse Park Forest to create awareness of the amenities located within the downtown area, including the theater, art galleries, and library. They've also developed an annual marketing budget including line items for informational materials and public relations, trips to trade shows, paid advertising, and more, in order to better promote the DownTown area and village as a whole.

With these and other winning tactics, Park Forest has implemented sound market strategies, showcasing how to move forward, decision by decision, revitalizing blighted areas and building a vibrant downtown. Already through the implementation of the 2003 TAP recommendations, the village is well on their way to creating a new legacy: the new model for a livablecommunity.

Congratulations Park Forest !

These were the key lessons from Supporting Workforce Housing Deals "In Our Own Backyard," a Dec. 20, 2006, forum at Roosevelt University's Schaumburg campus. More than 120 municipal leaders, homebuilders, real estate professionals, and others attended to share success stories, hear from experts, and work toward cooperative solutions to the Chicago region's housing needs.

This was the second forum of its kind. The Dec. 14, 2005, forum – How Do We Make Mixed-Income Housing Work: A Conversation with Mayors, Homebuilders, and the Governor's Office – helped build momentum for a handful of victories at the state level, including:

•SB2290, the Comprehensive Planning Act.

•SB 2885, the Business Location Efficiency Incentive Act.

•Illinois' 2007 comprehensive plan goals to promote live near work initiatives.

While significant progress has been made since the 2005 forum, funding levels for affordable housing development and preservation in Illinois are still well below national standards. According to a 2006 report from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and United Power for Action and Justice , about 90 percent of the money spent on affordable housing by the state comes from federal resources. Of that, only $49 million is directed toward affordable housing development and preservation not restricted to seniors or those with special needs. This $49 million assisted or created only 819 units of housing in 2005. Meanwhile, over 35 percent of all Illinois households remain in need of affordable housing.

On December 20th, it became clear the time is ripe to pursue innovative, cooperative, inter-jurisdictional strategies to accommodate housing needs, and the housing market is going a new direction. Peter Schwartz, CEO of the Homebuilders Association of Greater Chicago, Joe McDonnell, regional economist for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, and Colin McCrae, CEO of the Attainable Housing Alliance discussed emerging market trends which show that while 2006 was a difficult year in the real estate industry, indicators point to a recovery in 2007, particularly in the rental and multifamily markets.

Key lessons from the December 20th forum are:

•Build community acceptance. Housing that has an affordable component may face opposition and require strategies to overcome that resistance. Create a vision for the development, but allow some flexibility in that vision to address community concerns. When shaping a development plan, it is important to remember that at the heart of most opposition is the desire to see new development that is well managed, well-designed, fits in with and enhances the community, and has minimal impact on infrastructure. The earlier one starts to generate community acceptance the better. One way to do this is to tap into MPC's Community Acceptance Strategy , which can build momentum for specific projects or policies that meet certain affordability criteria.

•Don't go it alone. Involve policy experts, partner with other municipalities and units of government (such as your county), and engage employers and real estate professionals to develop solutions that address local needs and make good business sense.

•Build upon existing assets. Affordable housing doesn't work well in isolation. Create opportunities for a mix of housing prices and uses. Workforce housing near transit or near commercial districts not only adds to a successful residential project, but also complements these other uses.

•Look for opportunities to preserve. It's always easier to preserve a development than to build new. There are resources and real estate development experts who are willing and able to assist communities as they preserve and upgrade their aging housing. If you have a problem property in your community, there are things that can be done to turn it around.

State leaders need to hear from new voices that housing to meet the needs of our growing employment sectors, seniors, and other underserved populations must be a priority. Some new initiatives at the state level, including the "Good Housing, Good Schools" legislation (SB 220), seek to address the gap between affordable housing demand and supply by fostering cooperation between school districts, employers, municipal governments, and homebuilders.

While the state needs to be more active in supporting housing solutions, an exclusively top-down approach will not get the job done. That is why it is encouraging to see many Chicago-area communities and developers working to create housing that serves the growing demand in our region. Many of these success stories are examined in Home Grown: Local Housing Strategies in Action, a collection of more than 30 housing-related 'best practices' from around the Chicago region released by three of the forum's sponsors, MPC and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, and Chicago Metropolis 2020 .

Some of the local stories shared on December 20th include:

•Evanston Ald. Eb Moran discussed the fate of Darrow Corners, a proposed housing development for working families that met community resistance and ultimately failed to materialize. "Support for Darrow Corners came too late," explained Moran. The lessons from Moran's experience echoed throughout the entire day – supporters need to speak on the record, and the project vision needs to be flexible so that it can adapt in the face of criticism.

•Hipolito (Paul) Roldan, President of the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, spoke to the growing interest in preserving existing affordable housing, a cost-effective strategy that builds on existing assets. With support from the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation , Hispanic Housing plans to preserve seven to nine multifamily properties per year, and is committed to restoring high quality property management in suburban communities currently underserved by existing housing programs.

•St. Charles Mayor Donald DeWitte spoke about several initiatives that his city is implementing, including inclusionary zoning and a housing trust fund. He spoke about the need to develop local strategies in partnership with the development and real estate communities that make sense with the local market, and meet community workforce housing goals.

Unfortunately, not all of the communities present were able to showcase their housing initiatives. Notable among these were the DuPage Housing Action Coalition , a broad network of organizations, including municipal and county representatives, that has been meeting over the last year to develop strategies for preserving and expanding housing options throughout DuPage County. Several innovative strategies have come out of this process, including recommendations for a potential mixed-density overlay district that would be available for developments that include an affordable housing component. Also, the City of Chicago has been working on several new strategies, including its community land trust, which was established in 2005, and proposed Affordability Requirements Ordinance, which would require a percentage of affordable housing in development proposals requesting zoning variances from the city.

The forum, which was organized by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, Homebuilders Association of Greater Chicago, Illinois Housing Council, Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Roosevelt University , and Metropolitan Planning Council, was part of a continuing effort to build new bridges between municipal leaders and the real estate community on housing issues.

For more information, contact Josh Ellis, MPC community development associate, at (312)863-6045 or jellis@metroplanning.org; or Beth Dever, housing director, Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, at (312) 201-4507 or beth.dever@mayorscaucus.org.

With the support of developers, advocates, and technical assistance providers, numerous towns are taking action. From inclusionary housing ordinances in North Shore communities to troubled building rehabilitation and infill efforts in Chicago neighborhoods, local leadership is proving that affordable housing choice is more than a wish for Illinois residents. MPC, along with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and Chicago Metropolis 2020, has detailed a series of housing 'best practices' in order to share innovative ideas with other communities looking to tackle their own housing challenges, and with developers seeking to make positive contributions to the regional housing stock.

Home Grown: Local Housing Strategies in Action, released in December 2006, is a collection of more than 30 housing-related 'best practices' from around the Chicago region. This resource shows municipal officials how their peers are addressing housing issues and provides ideas for replicating or improving upon these approaches to address their specific housing needs. As a 'living' document, Home Grown will be updated annually with new programs and policies as they are developed.

Each 'best practice' summary includes background on how and why the program, policy or development was established, how it works, why it has been successful, the public participation process, and how it is financed. While most of the summaries showcase ways to address the affordability of housing, the series also illustrates examples of fair housing and accessibility solutions. Case studies in Home Grown include:

• Woodstock Commons, a multifamily rental project located in McHenry County and developed by Pickus Companies, which serves a range of households, the majority of which earn less than 50 percent of the area median income
• Bolingbrook's Fair Housing Ordinance, which protects all residents and property owners from racial discrimination in the housing market
• Chicago's Homeownership Preservation Initiative, which helps prevent foreclosures through financial education and emergency assistance and advocacy for mortgage holders.

If your community would like to submit a policy or development proposal for inclusion in Home Grown, please contact Josh Ellis with MPC at (312) 863-6045 or jellis@metroplanning.org.

For more information or to request a hardcopy of Home Grown, please contact any of the partnering organizations. 

Metropolitan Planning Council
Josh Ellis, (312) 863-6045
jellis@metroplanning.org

Metropolitan Mayors Caucus
Beth Dever, (312) 201-4507
bethdever@mayorscaucus.org

Chicago Metropolis 2020
Nancy Firfer, (312) 332-2020
nancy.l.firfer@cm2020.org

Related Articles:

Accommodating the Housing Needs of a Growing Region: an update for 2007

Opportunities for Cooperation in Affordable Housing

Despite these issues, we are at a turning point for local governments and community development leaders in Illinois. In 2005, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation that created the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). CMAP is the synthesis of expertise and function of two premier regional planning entities: the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) and the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS). Charged with 'maximizing our limited resources and improving coordination on both transportation and land use needs for the entire region,' significant responsibility lies ahead of CMAP. In addition to creating and implementing a region-wide plan that covers both land use and transportation issues, CMAP has a unique opportunity to serve as the information clearinghouse and convener that is sorely needed in northeastern Illinois.

Seeing this need, in 2005, MPC established its Community Building Initiative to help fill the technical assistance gap in communities that lack the resources or are grappling with unique redevelopment, sustainable development, or workforce housing shortage issues. MPC brings its own unique brand of assistance based on our unique planning and policy expertise. The Community Building Initiative has provided direct planning assistance to several communities throughout the region, including St. Charles, Highwood, Rolling Meadows, and Blue Island.

Other organizations recognize this need and opportunity. In fact, MPC has convened regular meetings of more specialized technical assistance providers throughout the region. This informal network has discussed the challenges of reaching out to all municipalities as well as the inefficiency of overlapping service areas. Chicago Metropolis 2020, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, Openlands, and ComEd are some of the organizations that support the idea that CMAP, as a coordinator of technical assistance, would streamline the process for municipalities to connect with appropriate technical assistance, research and funding. This would level the playing field for local governments around the region accessing planning resources and ultimately make planning easier, more affordable and a more frequently undertaken endeavor.

CMAP agrees that this is an appropriate role and is now defining how to provide this type of support and identifying available resources. "CMAP recognizes that there are gaps that exist in the region between communities that have the support and capacity to do necessary land use planning and those that don't," said Randy Blankenhorn, CMAP executive director. "As the regional planning organization, I see a role for CMAP in helping communities move forward in meeting local and regional planning goals. The next step is identifying the resources and structure needed to do this right."

Learn more about this vision for CMAP as a technical assistance clearinghouse and read the recently submitted policy paper. This paper provides additional detail on options for the specific functions and programs of CMAP in this role, and also highlights several successful regional service coordinators already working throughout the country. View a map that reveals gaps in service by illustrating which communities have benefited from technical assistance as well as those communities currently underserved.

For more information, please contact Joanna Trotter, Community Building Initiative manager, at jtrotter@metroplanning.org.

Excerpts from from Gov. Blagojevich's remarks follow: Excerpts from Treasurer Topinka's remarks are also available online. In addition, MPC media partner Comcast is broadcasting both candidates' remarks, in their entirety, through its OnDemand feature until the election.

On creating a state planning office
I think that a lot of what government can do better is do a better job of planning. Planning is the first step, but the other step is to work in a more cooperative and coordinated fashion with the other units of government. Unfortunately, Illinois is a state with a great deal of local governments ... Now, we're not in love with the idea of creating new agencies, so I don't know that we would actually create an agency to address this issue. It's unlikely we would because we're in the other mode, which is to say we're reducing the size of government ... So, while I would not embrace or endorse the concept of creating a new agency to do this, I would, however, suggest that we should probably use an existing agency, probably maybe one like CMS, maybe one like the Department of Commerce and economic opportunity, maybe some of the other agencies, and have people working there who can work with the local governments and try toconsolidate functions and bring more efficiency to the effort and also a lot more planning.

On investing in infrastructure to accomodate growth
We understand the great growth that's taking place in places like Kendall County, Will County and out in the western collar of counties. As a result of that, we're building I-355, which is in direct response to that growth. And we want to pass a capital bill ... that would also address some of the issues of trying to deal with our infrastructure needs so we can get people to and from where they're going,