Frequently
Asked Questions about the
Affordable
Housing Planning and Appeal Act
Why Do We Need
the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act at All?
There
isn’t enough
housing affordable to professionals who work in our communities.
Hardworking teachers, nurses, police officers, and firefighters,
for example, simply do not earn as much as other professionals
like doctors, lawyers and architects. Seniors are being priced
out of the communities in which they’ve spent their lives, and
young families can’t afford to return to the communities where
they grew up to raise their own children. The free market is
instead serving more affluent families. This is fueled by high
land values
which make the tear-down of existing, modest homes more cost-effective
than their preservation and re-sale to moderate-income families.
The law helps strengthen the social fabric by ensuring that
public servants can afford to live in and be a part of the
communities
they serve. It bolsters economic development by helping employers
attract and retain workers who are able find housing closer
to their jobs. It also allows working parents to live closer
to their
jobs, contributing to reduced commute times, traffic congestion,
and air pollution.
Does This
Law Mean Our Community Must Accept Public Housing? What does "affordable" mean?
No. This law
has nothing to do with public housing. This law is about removing
the barriers that prevent the private market from
meeting the need for moderately priced housing. This is housing
that
is "affordable" to
families earning between $42,000 and $57,000 per year – below
the area median income for the region, but not poverty wages.
This
would mean homes, for example, in the $125,000 - $200,000 range.
How Does
This Law Really Work?
The
law requires all communities in Illinois with less than 10% affordable
housing
to approve and implement a housing plan by April 1, 2005. The
Illinois law also creates a State Housing Appeals Board that can
review
developers’ appeals if they feel their affordable housing proposal
(at least 20% of these units would have to offered at the affordable
price) has been rejected purely because of the affordable component.
Any community that has met the affordable housing goal specified
in its plan is automatically exempt from the authority of
the State Housing Appeals Board, which would begin to hear cases
in 2009.
Does This
Law Subvert Local Control?
The State Housing
Appeals Board can hear and overturn a local decision affecting
an affordable housing development only if five conditions are
met. First, a community under 10% affordable housing must
fail to complete and implement an affordable housing plan by
2009. Second,
a developer, must come forward with a proposal that includes
20% moderately priced housing as part of the development. Third,
the
developer’s proposal must be denied. Fourth, the developer
must decide to appeal the decision. Fifth, the developer must
bear
the burden of successfully proving to the State Housing Appeals
Board
that he or she was treated unfairly at the local level.
Does This
Law Give Developers Carte Blanche in Our Community?
No.
Developers will not profit if there is no market for their housing.
That’s
why developers tend to propose projects that will be appealing
and will fit with the character of the community. Further,
the development must meet all local building codes. Developers cannot appeal
denials made on the basis of health and safety codes or environmental
protection.
Will This
Affordable Housing Have a Negative Impact on Property Values?
No. Repeated
research has shown that affordable housing has no negative impact
on the price or frequency of sales of neighboring homes. A 1999
study by the Innovative Housing Institute examined every real estate
transaction from 1992 to 1996 in 14 communities of Montgomery County,
Maryland, and Fairfax County, Virginia. In both counties, the analysis
revealed no difference in price behavior between market-rate homes
located within 500 feet of a subsidized or affordable home and
those market-rate homes farther away. It also found no difference
in price behavior between market-rate homes located adjacent to
affordable homes and those farther away.
Will This
Affordable Housing Detract from the Character of Our Neighborhood?
No.
Moderately priced housing must comply with the same building restrictions
and design standards as market-rate housing. Experience from
around
the country and in the Chicago region with such mixed-income
developments demonstrates that it is very difficult to distinguish
market-rate
homes from the "affordable" homes. In fact, the pictures
below are all pictures of affordable housing.
Does This
Law Push Seniors Aside?
No. In fact,
this law can help create critically needed senior housing.
Won’t
This Law Force Extra Expenses on Our Community?
This law creates
no more expenses than market-rate developments. The Affordable
Housing Planning and Appeal Act is a market-based tool.
Our
Community Is Already "Built Out." We Have No Land For
New Development. How Are We Supposed to Comply?
This
law will not force communities to categorically accept new developments
that include affordable housing. In fact, this law may have
little impact on communities that are already "built out." Communities
with little land could choose the goal of having 15% of all
new development or redevelopment set aside as affordable. With this
option, the development of affordable housing is tied to new
growth or redevelopment. The Affordable Housing Planning and
Appeal Act
simply provides that as a community continues to grow or redevelop,
it should work to include some moderately priced housing, making
it possible for those who work in and serve the community to
afford to live there, too.
How Can Non
Home Rule Communities Comply with this Law?
While
home rule units do have more local authority to adopt creative
tools to comply
with this law, non-home rule units can take a number of steps
to plan for and create affordable housing. Non-home rule units
can use their zoning codes and city-owned parcels of land help
the private sector create more moderately priced housing. They
can partner with willing non-profit and for-profit developers to
access existing state and federal resources to create moderately
priced housing. They can also work with non-profit entities
to create a community land trust that can help create and keep
new housing affordable.
Is This
Another Unfunded Mandate from Springfield?
No.
Communities can use their own local zoning and land use powers to
comply with
the law. Further, there are a number of state and federal
funding streams that can be used to provide subsidies to help create
moderately priced housing for the local workforce. Local
municipalities can partner with nonprofit or for-profit developers
to access funding.
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