Affordable housing in the 48th Ward

Gentrification has arrived in the Edgewater neighborhood in Chicago, and as housing prices have shot skyward in neighborhoods to the south, the demand for condos in Edgewater has been accelerating. Everywhere, it seems, there are dumpsters in front yards signifying yet another condo conversion.

This evening the Organization of the Northeast (ONE) met with 48th Ward Alderman Mary Ann Smith to discuss the loss of affordable housing. Unfortunately, I was late and arrived just as the meeting was wrapping up. But afterward one of the speakers, Mimi Harris, gave me a copy of her notes. Here are excerpts from her statement to the alderman:

Mary Ann, if you cannot sign on to the [citywide] ordinance right now, here's another option. How about balancing the development in your own ward? Other aldermen [in neighboring wards] are doing this: Schulter [47th], Moore [49th], Shiller [46th], Tunney [44th], and even Vi Daley in Lincoln Park [43rd].

Edgewater development is moving ... fast, and Broadway is the newest hotspot. A couple of years ago, in a smaller meeting with [Organization of the Northeast] in your office, you suggested that Broadway would be a good place for some affordable housing development. We see no evidence of this in what is already coming down the pike: Catalpa Gardens [formerly Reza Towers], the [vacant] Piser [funeral home] plans, the Zengeler readaptive development, or the Pasteur development.

We are asking ... that ... [in the 48th Ward] you commit to setting aside 15% of each development larger than 10 units for affordable housing. We don't want to lose any more of our friends or neighbors, nor do we want to be pushed out ourselves from our beloved Edgewater.

The alderman agreed to support the suggested ward-wide set aside policy, and she committed to a followup discussion with ONE on preserving subsidized and rental housing.