UPDATED DECEMBER 6, 2006

43RD WARD BALANCED DEVELOPMENT REFERENDUM RESULTS:

"SHALL THE CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL ENACT THE INCLUSIONARY HOUSING ORDINANCE, TO PROMOTE A BALANCED COMMUNITY WITH HOUSING AVAILABLE FOR WORKING FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS OF VARYING INCOME LEVELS?"

PRECINCT   YES       NO
     1              67%         33%
     7              71%         29%
     8              65%         35%
    21             60%         40%
    31             64%         35%
    37             69%         31%

TOTAL YES VOTES: 1,162
TOTAL NO VOTES: 602
66% VOTED YES!

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE RESULTS!

During the month of August, dozens of LAC leaders collected over 350 signatures in favor of an affordable housing set-aside ordinance from voters in Lincoln Park. Those signatures successfully placed a referendum on the November 7^th ballot in 6 precincts in the 43^rd ward.

A referendum is an advisory, non-binding question put to the voters. It is a strong reflection of the feelings of the voters in the ward, and often influences decisions made by public officials.

The main goal of the referendum is to impact the position of Alderman Vi Daley, who has neglected to support the affordable housing set-aside ordinance. It re-enforces the message we have been sending her for the past 4 years:

Residents of Lincoln Park want her to take decisive actions that will bring reasonably priced housing to the community!

Call Lakeview Action Coalition at 773-549-1947 x 364 for more information!

PROTESTANTS FOR THE COMMON GOOD CALL FOR BALANCED DEVELOPMENT
Updated October 2006

On September 27, 2006 Protestants for the Common Good held a press conference of clergy representing all 50 wards in Chicago to call for the passage of the Balanced Development Set Aside Ordinance. This event was organized with assistance from many organizations, including LAC.

The group presented an open letter to Mayor Daley and all 50 Aldermen which states that:

“Chicago is being revitalized. We give thanks to God and our leaders for this new infusion of growth, energy, and opportunity. Let us make sure, however, that these wonderful blessings are available not only to the wealthy few, but are shared by all who love and cherish this great city.”

The group of clergy marched around City Hall and to the 5^th Floor of City Hall to deliver their message: it is a moral imperative that Chicago officials support smart, aggressive affordable housing policies. This will allow for communities to remain diverse, and working families to continue to add to the texture of the City.

Local clergy who took part in this press conference included Rabbi Asher Lopatin from Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Synagogue, Reverend Joy Strome from Lakeview Presbyterian Church, Reverend Trey Hall from Holy Covenant United Methodist Church, Reverend Greg Dell from Broadway United Methodist Church, and Reverend Avena Ward from St. Paul United Church of Christ.

Affordable Housing Task Force
Updated March 22, 2006

Local and Citywide Balanced Development: Task Force members took part in a Balanced Development Coalition (BDC) training and retreat to discuss using electoral politics to win on our issue. We decided to do two things: 1 – assist Logan Square Neighborhood Association in winning a referendum that is on their ballot for March 21 asking if there should be a citywide balanced development ordinance; and 2 – evaluate this campaign in the spring and determine voter mobilize strategies to utilize in the November elections. LAC leaders have been an integral part of outreach in Logan Square on this referendum. Actions on the Mayor will begin again after election day; LAC is responsible for April 5^th. LAC leaders will be meeting with Alderman Matlak to discuss specific sites for set asides in his ward.

Lincoln Park Shelter: The Lincoln Park Shelter has a hearing in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals that is exclusively for the shelter issue. The date for that hearing is April 13 at 1 pm at City Hall.

Lincoln Park Plaza: Lincoln Park Plaza Tenants Association is growing. In January, over 30 tenants attended a training with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization to learn how to build and strengthen the association. The core group doorknocked throughout the building and got close to 200 signatures of tenants, including market rate tenants, in support of the association. We learned that tenants’ main concerns are 1) renewal of the Section 8 contract for 5 more years once it expires in October of this year, 2) renewal of the extermination policy to quarterly extermination (it’s been changed to once a year) 3) maintaining cleanliness of the building, particularly in the garbage and laundry rooms (several machines have been broken for months).

The core group of the association met with the owner of the building recently to check in on his commitment to renew the Section 8 contract and bring up some building concerns. He maintained that he is still committed to renewing the contract for 5 more years, and is in the process of completing the application to HUD. The tenants won a major victory around fire alarms – the fire alarm system was a major problem in the building, going off at the slightest provocation, often for routine cooking. The system was at fault, but management was charging tenants $200 for triggering the alarms! At this meeting, the tenants won a commitment from the owner not to collect the money that they had charged and to fix the system, which they are in the process of doing this month! Alderman Tunney was also at the meeting, and was very supportive of the Section 8 contract 5 year renewal.

Chateau SRO: Anshe Emet Synagogue is leading a community effort to improve safety and preserve affordable housing in the area around the synagogue. Residents, business owners, congregation members, people from Gill Park, Greeley School, Pick Park Co-op have come together with Commander Yamashiroya (23^rd district) and Alderman Shiller (47^th Ward) to find and implement concrete solutions. A team of leaders is working with LAC to do outreach to tenants of the Chateau to find out what their concerns are about their living conditions and to identify leadership within the building to work to address these concerns. Lakeview Pantry, Lakefront Supportive Housing, and Anshe Emet are collaborating in this effort.

Set-Aside Ordinance:

According to a Fannie Mae study that was released in 2005, Chicago is moving from "barely affordable" to "unaffordable" for the average family – for teachers, firemen, security guards, seniors and other valuable members of our community.

The Set-Aside Ordinance would require developers to set aside 15% of their units as affordable in new developments or condo conversions of 10 units or more and will provide the developers with healthy bonuses to offset the cost of the set-asides, potentially creating over 7,000 units of affordable housing across the city a year.

It has been so successful in other cities across the nation that in Boston, for example, they are expanding the ordinance because it has been so effective for developers and community members alike.

Clergy, unions, aldermen and community organizations across the city support the set aside ordinance - even developers - are starting to come out and say that this is a good approach to addressing the severe lack of moderate- to low-income housing across the city.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Jennifer Ritter Gonzalez at (773) 549-1947 x385

June 20, 2003

Is there still “Room for All” on the North Side?

Seniors, teachers, nurses, service workers, and others are harder pressed than ever to afford Lincoln Park, Lakeview and the Near North Side. On June 24^th, 500 religious and community leaders will gather to ask our Aldermen to support affordable housing on the North Side and throughout the City of Chicago. Will your Alderman work for affordable housing?

Be part of the answer on June 24!

Citizens’ Action Assembly

When:

Tuesday, June 24, 2003
7pm (Sharp) to 8:15pm (Sharp) Doors open at 6:15

Where:

Student Center of DePaul University (Lincoln Park)
2250 N. Sheffield – enter off Sheffield

-Validated parking available in parking deck just North of Student Center on Sheffield
-Free Bus transportation (contact LAC for INFO)

Invited:          Ald. Ted Matlak, 32^nd Ward
                        Ald. Vi Daley, 43^rd Ward
                        Ald. Tom Tunney, 44^th Ward

This event is being organized by the The North side Leadership Team of the
Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC) and
United Power for Action & Justice (UPAJ)
(LAC is a founding member of UPAJ)

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On Tuesday, June 24 we will ask our Aldermen to…

1) SUPPORT A CITY-WIDE AFFORDABLE SET-ASIDE ORDINANCE

-Sign on to the Preckwinckle Ordinance and work with us towards the passage of a viable citywide set aside ordinance. The Preckwinckle ordinance, summarized below, currently has 24 co-sponsors.

-25% set aside of moderately priced housing

-New construction, substantial rehab, or condo conversions

-10 or more units

-Cost offsets for developers

-Rental units for households at or below 50% of the Area Median Income ($37,700 for a household of 4 in 2003);

-For Sale units for households at or below 80% of the Area Median Income ($56,500 for a household of 4 in 2003)

2) AGGRESSIVELY PROMOTE AND IMPLEMENT LOCAL AFFORDABLE SET-ASIDES IN THE 32ND, 43RD, AND 44TH WARDS

-Identify Parcels and Developments for Set-Asides in the 32^nd, 43^rd and 44^th Wards

-The following resources/strategies can make these set-asides work

· City’s Department of Housing CPAN program

· Regional Housing Initiative (RHI) subsidies

· Write Downs of City-owned land and TIF subsidies

3) WORK WITH US TO MAKE THE PRESERVATION AND CREATION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING A CENTRAL GOAL IN THE 32ND, 43RD AND 44TH WARDS AND THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF CHICAGO
What is affordable housing?
Housing is affordable when households do not have to spend more than 30% of their income on housing. The greatest need for affordable housing lies with households earning at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI)--$56,500 for a household of four in the Chicago metropolitan region.

December 2001

Rienzi Plaza Section 8 Contract Renewed!

Thanks to everyone who helped save affordable housing at Rienzi Plaza!

Rabbi Suzanne Griffel from Congregation Or Chadash speaks out for Affordable Housing at the LAC Rally at Rienzi Plaza on May 31, 2001

Community leaders, Tenants Win Initial Victory to Preserve Precious Section 8 Stock in Lakeview

Lakeview Action Coalition, Jane Addams Senior Caucus, and Tenants of Rienzi Plaza Pay Surprise Visit to Owner, Secure 5 Year Extension as Deadline Looms

As a deadline loomed on Friday, November 30, 2001 for Rienzi Plaza’s current Section 8 contract, Sheldon Baskin made public his commitment to extend the contract for another five years, the maximum allowed. Baskin is one of several major partners who own the Rienzi Plaza Apartments (600 W. Diversey), a building which contains over 20% of Lakeview’s Section 8 housing stock—units which could have been lost if the owners had decided to not renew their Section 8 contract and sell the building to a condo developer.

The fate of the building and the 150 families who live in the Section 8 units was unknown up until Friday afternoon. None of the general partners or investors of Rienzi Plaza would return calls from building tenants or LAC leaders. Instead they continually deflected responsibility for that decision to one another. As a response, over 70 leaders of the Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC), the Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC), and tenant leaders from Rienzi Plaza paid a surprise visit to the office of Chicago attorney and real estate developer Barry Weinstein. Weinstein is the lead investor at Rienzi Plaza. While Barry Weinstein refused to meet with the group, Rienzi Tenants presented his staff with letters of support from government officials and with blank checks as symbols of commitments from the City of Chicago, the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and private developers to work to find financing to preserve Rienzi for the long-term and provide adequate return to the investors. The building is one of many in the Section 8 program in which tenants are in limbo as owners consider leaving the program at the end of their 20-year contracts. The 150 elderly, disabled, and low-income working families living in the Rienzi subsidized units received word on September 29, 2000 that they might lose their homes. Since then they worked closely with LAC and JASC to secure pledges of support from elected officials at all levels of government, as well as tens of millions of dollars in public and private financing which would be used to preserve the buildings affordability for the long term. Community leaders and tenants had expected Baskin to renew the Section 8 contract for only one year, a sure sign that he would sell the building soon. The five-year extension was a pleasant surprise and the best-case scenario at this time. LAC, JASC, and tenants know that their broad-based campaign to save Rienzi helped persuade Baskin to make this decision. It was not until after LAC, JASC and the Rienzi tenants took action that they received word of the five-year extension. "After living in limbo for so long, this is a crucial victory for us. Working with the community, we (the tenants) earned this victory. We want to thank Sheldon Baskin for making the right decision…even if we did have to help him make it," said Lucy Ramirez, a tenant at Rienzi. While the five-year extension is considered a major victory some community leaders took a more cautious tone. "Our ultimate goal is still to preserve Rienzi Plaza for 20 or 30 years. We have organized incredible political and financial support toward that ends. We still need Sheldon Baskin and the investors to work with us so we can do that. Or else, in five years, tenants will again be dealing with the real threat of loosing their homes," stated Deanna Boyd, a leader with the Lakeview Action Coalition.

Reverend David Chevrier of Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ supports the residents of Rienzi Plaza

Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC) is a community organization made up of 38 religious congregations, social service agencies, banks and other organizations in the Lakeview and North Center neighborhoods. LAC enables its members to act on their values in public life by organizing around important issues and by training and developing leaders Founded in 1976, The Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC) is a grass roots, not-for-profit community organization of senior citizens. The Caucus, which has over 400 individual members, works with seniors so that they can be included in the decisions made every day that affect their lives. Photos by David Kamba

Affordable Housing Task Force Updated March 22, 2006

Affordable Housing Task Force
Updated March 22, 2006