1) Campaign Email - iwhite.wp@gmail.com
2) YOUR PLATFORM: Link to your website about housing - https://isaiahwhite.org/priorities/
3) YOUR COMMUNITY: Is your district suffering from a housing shortage?
District 12 is suffering from a severe housing shortage. In fact, District 12 encompasses some of the most tensioned housing markets in the Midwest. From Lincoln Park, to North Center, to River North, Roscoe Village, and Wicker Park, every neighborhood I seek to represent suffers from various degrees of housing shortage.
4) YOUR RECORD: Are there pro-housing policies or specific housing developments you have supported in the past that you would like to highlight?
I support many pro-housing policies, including, but not limited to, the following:
-Universal four flats by-right.
-Repeal minimum lot sizes.
-ADUs by-right.
-Repeal of parking minimums.
-Fire code and elevator reform.
-Legalization of single stair and point access block developments.
-Permitting the use of mass timber.
-Proactive upzoning.
5) Housing costs are increasing for everyone, but renters in particular are bearing the brunt of this crisis, with many frequently spending 30, 40, and even 50% of their income on rent.
What can the County Board do to bring down costs for both subsidized and market rate housing, and what are some actions that you support in order to achieve that?
The County has taken a back seat on housing affordability. If I am elected, this complacency will end. I will use every power at the County’s disposal to expand the supply of housing of all types, both subsidized and unsubsidized.
To address the unsubsidized market, I will first take direct action on zoning in unincorporated Cook County, which includes exclaves within Chicago’s external borders. I would push a dramatic rezoning of these areas within Chicago’s borders from the current R5 to R8 - which is the current maximum allowed under the County’s zoning ordinance. Outside of Chicago, I would support a similar rezoning of residential areas to R8. Long term, I would support the creation of a mixed use commercial/residential zoning classification that would allow for larger multi-family buildings, with commercial uses allowed. I would support rezoning all residential unincorporated County land to this new classification. Further, I would support a broader land use reform at the County that includes, at minimum, all the pro-housing policies I list elsewhere in this questionnaire.
Unfortunately, what I outline above will not be enough. Most zoning happens at the municipal level, which the County does not directly control. To push communities in the direction of housing abundance, I would support tying the County’s dollars that flow to municipalities to general increases in zoning capacity. If a municipality increases zoning capacity they should receive preferential access to County funds, particularly infrastructure funds.
For the subsidized market, I support an expansion and reform of the County’s modular housing program. We need to build more houses on Land Bank owned land and we must do so much more cheaply. Beyond the modular housing program, I support a wholesale reform of the Housing Authority of Cook County. It’s time to start building more units to add to the system. There is no reason we can’t have Viennese style and quality public housing in Cook County.
6) The Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act (AHPAA) is a state law that requires every Illinois municipality whose housing stock is less than 10% affordable to develop plans to increase the amount of affordable housing in the community. Fourteen of the 44 municipalities subject to the law are in Cook County and of those 14 communities, only eight submitted plans before the deadline—only three of which were deemed compliant.
Given these struggles of attaining and enforcing compliance, what would you do to ensure Cook County’s most affluent communities are planning for and building their fair share of affordable housing?
It is time for Glencoe, Winnetka and Deerfield to pull their weight. We have a housing crisis to solve and that requires all of us to row in the same direction. While Cook County has limited direct control over what these communities do, we do have some ability to compel compliance. For one, we can seek to tie our grants and direct investments in these communities to their compliance with the AHPAA. If you don’t build enough your ranking in competitions for grants should decline. We can also go in the other direction by providing additional resources to communities that build more. This could take the form of additional money for infrastructure in communities that comply with AHPAA.
7) There is significant unincorporated land, including some near transit, in which Cook County completely controls the zoning.
How would you use zoning in unincorporated Cook to address the County’s current housing shortage?
As I mentioned in my previous answer, I would support a wholesale densification of residential unincorporated Cook County coupled with a systematic elimination of the rules that make building so hard and expensive.
In the short term, I support the rezoning of all residentially zoned unincorporated Cook County to R8 which is the maximum density allowed under the County’s zoning code. In the long term, we need to write a new zoning classification that allows for high density and mixed use properties. I would support rezoning all residential unincorporated Cook County to this new classification. Cook County must be a partner in solving our housing crises and that means acting aggressively where we can.
8) Cook County also owns land inside municipalities, much of which is vacant.
How can the County incentivize housing development on those parcels?
The Cook County Land Bank represents a tremendous missed opportunity for housing development. Just because we are missing said opportunity doesn’t mean that we have to keep missing it. The County owns many parcels that are both near transit and situated in neighborhoods with tensioned housing markets. These parcels need to be turned into housing yesterday. I would support reforming the rules of the Land Bank to make it faster, easier, and cheaper to acquire land.
I would also like to see the County play an active role in encouraging affordable density where it might not be otherwise economically viable. One way to accomplish this is to provide County financing. This would effectively lower the cost of capital for developers allowing them to build more profitably in markets with lower sale prices. In exchange for the financing the developers could be asked to build additional units and to rent them at a below market rate for lower income families - both increasing density and the availability of subsidized units.
9) A top concern for Cook County residents is high property taxes, which increase the cost of living for both homeowners and renters. Future pension obligations, among other obligations and services, will require increasing revenue for both the County and its municipalities.
How can the County responsibly mitigate individual property tax burdens?
Build. More. Housing. (and also commercial properties and mixed use and, well, everything.)
The best course of action is to expand the number of parcels subject to taxation. We do this by building more houses, apartments, commercial properties and everything in between. By increasing the number of parcels, we spread the total tax levy over a greater number of taxpayers and decrease the amount each individual pays.
