{"id":1899,"date":"2010-03-11T02:15:09","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T07:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2010-04-10T02:46:24","modified_gmt":"2010-04-10T07:46:24","slug":"rif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/2010\/03\/11\/rif\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed TIF could help preserve affordable housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supporters of a proposed 49th<\/sup> ward rental improvement fund, who say it would improve rental stock and preserve its affordability, may be one step closer to their goal after Alderman Joe Moore introduced an ordinance at Wednesday\u2019s City Council meeting.<\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s ordinance commended the Department of Community Development for its support of an eligibility study. \u00a0The study is the first step towards realizing the proposed improvement fund.\u00a0 Betsy Vandercook, Moore\u2019s chief of staff, said formal support could help the groups proposing the RIF find funding for the study.\u00a0 \u201cJoe is always open to any new initiatives or experiments for expanding affordable housing,\u201d Vandercook said.<\/p>\n

Rogers Park-based organizations Lakeside Community Development Corporation and Northside P.O.W.E.R.\u00a0 developed the RIF proposal.\u00a0 The proposed fund would provide grants for multifamily rental property repair and rehabilitation.\u00a0 Grants could be used by landlords to bring a building up to code or for other improvements including brickwork, roofing, gutters and downspouts, windows and doors, porches, plumbing, heating and electrical systems.<\/p>\n

Recipients of the grants would be required to keep rents affordable for 10 years.<\/p>\n

Grants would be available on a per-unit basis and the amount of the grant would depend on the rent limits for the unit.\u00a0 Rent limits would be calculated as a percentage of the area median income, a value determined by the Department of Community Development.\u00a0 Based on the March 2009 AMI, the proposal listed an example rent limit for a two bedroom unit where the tenant pays all utilities as $404 at 30 percent of the AMI, $743 at 50 percent of the AMI, and $914 at 60 percent of the AMI.<\/p>\n

The maximum grant for a single unit would be $17,500.\u00a0 For multiple units, up to a total of $350,000 could be granted to a property.<\/p>\n

The rental improvement fund would get money through tax increment financing.\u00a0 Vandercook said the proposed TIF district was \u201cvery unusual\u201d because it would be the first district in Chicago to cover an entire ward.\u00a0 The TIF could generate more than $54 million according to estimates published by Northside P.O.W.E.R.<\/p>\n

Eligibility studies, conducted by city-approved consultants, are required before the city can create a new TIF district.\u00a0 The multi-stage study can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars said Rev. Marilyn Pag\u00e1n-Banks, executive director of\u00a0Good News Community Kitchen and Northside P.O.W.E.R.<\/p>\n

Pag\u00e1n-Banks said the idea of the rental improvement fund came out of concern over the loss of affordable housing in Rogers Park.\u00a0 A wave of condominium conversions that happened in the mid-2000s \u201creally hurt the rental stock in the community,\u201d Pag\u00e1n-Banks said , and affordable rentals were particularly hard-hit.\u00a0 While the economic downturn has stopped the wave of condo conversions, the affordable rental housing stock that was lost is still gone, Pag\u00e1n-Banks said.<\/p>\n

The loss of affordable housing can affect other aspects of the community such as education, Pag\u00e1n-Banks said, citing Gale, a Rogers Park school she said was \u201cseverely underenrolled.\u201d\u00a0 A decrease in a school\u2019s enrollment can result in a decrease in funding, she said.<\/p>\n

Cindy Bush, director of organizing at Northside P.O.W.E.R., is trying to meet with as many Rogers Park business owners and residents as possible to build broad-based support for the RIF\u2019s eligibility study.\u00a0 \u201cJust about everyone we\u2019ve talked to is on board with the notion of maintaining affordable rental housing in Rogers Park,\u201d Bush said.<\/p>\n

This does not mean that the proposal is an easy sell.\u00a0 \u201cThe biggest reservation that I have heard is around the concept of TIF.\u201d\u00a0 Supporters of the RIF try to distinguish its TIF district from existing ones.\u00a0 \u201cWe view the RIF as a reformed TIF,\u201d Bush said.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional TIF districts, which calculate a tax revenue base line that remains static over the TIF district\u2019s 23 years, the proposed TIF district would have a base line that could rise with the cost of living up to 1 percent per year.\u00a0 This would allow taxing bodies to get additional revenue as their costs rise.<\/p>\n

The RIF proposal indicates funds would be \u201cuse-it-or-lose-it.\u201d\u00a0 If unused funds reached a certain level, the RIF would receive no additional funds from the tax increment.<\/p>\n

Pag\u00e1n-Banks said that lack of transparency and community direction and involvement were two prime criticisms of TIFs.\u00a0 The RIF proposal calls for the creation of a community-based board to make decisions about the fund.\u00a0 It also calls for transparency through open meetings and the publication of financial statements.<\/p>\n

Pag\u00e1n-Banks also expects some concern from business in the ward as funds from the proposed TIF district would only finance improvements to rental housing and not commercial development.\u00a0 Still, Pag\u00e1n-Banks said, affordable housing allows people to stay in the neighborhood, which is \u201cgood for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the process to create the RIF started last year it is still in its early stages, Vandercook said.\u00a0 Supporters of the proposal will work to fund the eligibility study and continue to develop community backing, Pag\u00e1n-Banks said. \u00a0\u201cIf the community doesn\u2019t support it, it\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

A public meeting to discuss the RIF is scheduled for April 18 at 3 p.m. at Rogers Park Presbyterian Church, 7059 North Greenview Ave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supporters of a proposed 49th ward rental improvement fund, who say it would improve rental stock and preserve its affordability, may be one step closer to their goal after Alderman Joe Moore introduced an ordinance at Wednesday\u2019s City Council meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[800,1],"tags":[809,811,812,813,804,808],"class_list":["post-1899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reporting","category-uncategorized","tag-49thward","tag-affordable","tag-housing","tag-rif","tag-rogerspark","tag-tif","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4wnIz-rif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1899"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1911,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}