My campaign website iswww.cadeforcook.com. While I do not have a housing-specific website, I am committed to prioritizing pro-growth policies.
Yes. The City of Chicago and the State of Illinois are both facing substantial housing shortages, and the 8th District of Cook County is no different. There is a particularly sharp deficit in affordable rental units, leaving those with lower incomes the most hard-hit by the shortage.
While I have not previously worked directly on pro-housing policies, I was proud to serve on the Board of Volunteers of America Illinois, which has developed multiple high-quality, affordable options for families in need of housing (with a particular focus on support services and for Veterans). VOA Illinois’s efforts prioritize housing and re-housing for those struggling with homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness, and seeks to address the significant cost burden borne by low income families, in particular. I am proud of VOA Illinois’ work and I look forward to building on my experience working with that organization to advance pro-housing policies at a broader level.
An increase in housing stock will lead to lower housing costs, give Cook County residents more choices in finding a home, and increase the property tax base to help lower individual property owners’ tax burden. As a County Commissioner, I will support policies that promote development of new housing across the board. Whether building new units, redeveloping existing structures, or enabling property owners to create additional dwelling units on their properties, it’s imperative that we cut red tape and costly development barriers.
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?
There may be a number of actions the County can take to ensure compliance with the AHPAA. The County can invest resources to petition the State Housing Appeals Board and other state-level oversight bodies for compliance enforcement, and can contest exemption appeals of municipalities seeking to dodge the AHPAA’s requirements within the County. Relatedly, the County can look to ensure that the State Housing Appeals Board is effectively populated with a sufficient number of active members to hear those appeals. While 310 ILCS 67/70 limits the ability of the County to pass more restrictive regulations than the AHPAA, the County can nevertheless look to implement its own policies that will bolster affordable housing requirements in County municipalities. Also, as noted in other responses here, it is imperative that the County cut red tape and incentivize the building of housing stock of all kinds across the board, and doing so can make it easier for developers to nimbly and more quickly build mixed use and affordable housing in all municipalities with fewer opportunities for local municipal governments to block specific projects.
Zoning should not be a barrier to development and growth. While there is value is preserving public spaces for communal use like parks and community gardens, we should make it easier to develop housing options - particularly in areas near public transportation. One approach is to proactively review and potentially modify existing zoning designations to invite development, rather than wait for a developer to propose a new project before taking action. In addition to attracting and spurring new project development, proactive upzoning can cut down on project development timelines, costs, and other barriers.
The County must make it easier for developers to take over vacant lots and to develop housing options on them. The Cook County Land Bank Authority is one existing resource that the County could use to make vacant lots available to responsible developers.
Local, community-based developers and nonprofit organizations, in particular, should be enabled and empowered to participate in the bidding process for vacant lots. Through my own involvement as a Board member of Volunteers of America Illinois I saw firsthand the remarkable impact that nonprofits can have in building and maintaining dignified, affordable housing to members of the community at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness, and in creating a positive economic impact in an underserved community at the same time.
Effective oversight of any program to sell vacant lots should evaluate baseline criteria like the number of vacant properties sold, the number of properties successfully developed, jobs created, and local economic impact. Yet the program should also track community perceptions of neighborhood revitalization, the number of local, reputable developers participating in acquisition and rehabilitation projects, and turnaround timelines. Accelerating the time from sale to development, while ensuring alignment with the broader goals of affordable housing expansion and economic growth, will be key to the success of such a program.
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?
As noted above, an increase in housing stock is key to many of the challenges facing Cook County. This is true for our unsustainable and unbearable individual property tax burdens. Our property tax system needs to be reformed to create a simpler, more transparent, and more reliable assessment process. The County Board can also mitigate individual property tax burdens by promoting policies that will yield an increase in housing and attracting new residents to Cook County in order to expand the tax base. All options should be on the table for increasing housing stock. Ultimately, stable revenue for the City of Chicago and Cook County will come from diversified sources, a growing population, and growth-oriented policies, but should not rely on property tax rate increases as a solution.
