TIF with a Twist Being Proposed in Rogers Park
Rogers Park has been working on an effort to preserve affordable housing in a way that would satisfy tenants and landlords.
The idea would allow landlords to receive grants to cover maintenance costs so that they could keep their rent affordable. These grants would come from a TIF that would be called rental improvement fund, or RIF. The main difference is that RIF's are dedicated solely to affordable housing while TIF's are used for economical development, education, and other things in the community, said Brian White, executive director of Lakeside Community Development Corporation.
"So the idea here is that every year, no matter how the market is going, boom or bust, there is always going to be a dedicated source of funds to provide support for landlords to make quality affordable housing." White said.Lakeside Community Development Corporation posted a chart on its website outlining the different levels of residents' incomes and the amount of rent that should be charged for each category. The more affordable the rent is, the more grants landlords may receive.
The plan would generate an approximate $54 million that would be allocated to Rogers Park over the course of 23 years. According to White, this amount would take up a little over 2 percent of property taxes from Rogers Park. The plan is that a grant would be given to a qualifying landlord, and in return, the landlord would have to maintain affordable rent for a certain amount of units for 10 years.
White believes that hundreds of buildings in Rogers Park already qualify for this. Volunteers from Lakeside, Community Development Corporation and Northside P.O.W.E.R. say they spoke to landlords and tenants to design this idea.
Marty Max from MLC Properties owns a few buildings in Rogers Park including the Fargo Vintage Building and the Paulina Building. He said maintenance costs are very high, and it makes it difficult to keep up. Requirements landlords have to follow include repairs on windows, porches, boilers, screens, exit lights, railings, sidewalks, and other safety measures.
He said two boilers for one of his buildings required $25,000 each.
"The burden that the city is putting on landlords to get some of these things done is forcing landlords to sell their buildings," Max said. "But who would buy my building?"
He said he doesn't mind keeping his buildings up to the standards, but he wouldn't mind the help either.
"If there was a way that I could apply for assistance to update my building somehow and in return keep my building affordable, yeah, I would look into that," Max said.
White said most of the time, tenants complain that the more affordable housing doesn't always reach quality standards, and this plan would change that.
"You're going to have tenants who are basically either being asked to pay higher rents or living in worse buildings, neither of which is a good outcome."
He also said that they will be taking a use it or lose it approach. Any of the funds that are not used would be put back into the general fund.
This is an effort to preserve affordable housing if there is another housing boom, said Marilyn Pagan-Banks, executive director of A Just Harvest and a leader in Northside P.O.W.E.R.
"TIF's do work, and can work, and the whole process can be reformed," said Pagan-Banks.
However, the plan is still an idea, and although Ald. Joe Moore has publicly complimented it, discussions are under way.