Lakeside CDC director Brian White joined members of North Side Power in a public call for affordable housing preservation on Friday February 22 in Rogers Park. The rally, held in front of a converted rental building that is mostly empty, attracted approximately 65 community residents. During his comments, White referenced a 2006 Lakeside study that showed how condo conversions had depleted the rental market by thousands of units in little more than three years. In addition, hundreds of units of new construction condos have also been added into the local market, creating a glut of condos that the average household simply cannot afford.

"In 2006, at the height of the conversion craze, Lakeside identified 42 large rental buildings under conversion at the same time. These buildings included more than 918 rental units...To put this in context, between 1989 and 2004, an average of 146 condominium units were created per year in Rogers Park."

The results of these trends on low- and moderate-income renters has been "devastating."

White cited a recent survey conducted by the housing committee of Partners for Rogers Park that shows significant overcrowding, especially for black and Hispanic renters, as well as a great degree of apprehension among minority households about losing their apartments to condominium conversions. White renter households were far less concerned, according to the survey results.

Lakeside has recommended a number of steps to address the problems facing renters, including a moratorium on any further zoning changes for condominium construction in Rogers Park, as well adoption of a comprehensive condominium conversion ordinance such as the one proposed by Metropolitan Tenants Organization. Lakeside is also working through the housing committee of Partners for Rogers Park to educate tenants and landlords, increase tenant representation in community planning efforts, and partner with for-profit and non-profit housing developers to expand the suppply of quality affordable housing units.

Click here to read Brian White's complete statement.