Across the nation and in the Chicago area the supply of housing affordable to lower income families has decreased. Overall, there is less rental housing in the Chicago area and the demand for low-cost rental housing far exceeds the supply. The shortage is expected to increase as about 18,000 units of Chicago public housing is being demolished with only a fraction of replacement housing intended for the very poor. In Illinois, between 30-39 percent of the population cannot afford fair market rent for a two bedroom apartment. The poorer the family the greater the problem, with the majority of extremely low-income families having to apply more than 50% of their income to rent (Willem, 2002).
Unlike some other cities across the country, Chicago currently has no requirements that new housing be affordable. In recent years home prices and rents have skyrocketed out of the reach of many working Chicagoans. According to the Chicago Association of Realtors, the median sale price of town homes and condos jumped 65% in the last five years from $148,000 to $238,500.
Although the City estimates that it costs between $5000 to $10000 to construct each parking space in a new development, they are proposing raising parking requirements by 50% to 100% in many new developments. At the same time that the City balks at mandatory set-asides for affordable housing, it is raising mandatory set-aside for car parking (Lealan, 1998). This will add an additional cost burden to new construction and rehabilitation projects, making it even harder to create affordable housing.
Approximately 166,000 persons–including an alarmingly high proportion of families with small children experience homelessness in the Chicago region. In the City, requests for emergency shelter were up 22% in 2001 over the previous year. Requests by families were up 35%..................
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