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Highland Park's Inclusionary Housing Program INCLUSIONARY ZONING
PRESERVING OAK PARK’S VIBRANCY
Oak Park has long been a nationally-recognized proponent of integration and diversity. To counter white flight from Austin in the 1960s, Oak Park adopted a fair housing ordinance that embraced imminent racial change. In 1973, the board of trustees passed its first statement that affirmed the value and importance of diversity in the community. Since then the community has been at the forefront of promoting the progressive environment and values that brought many of us here to live.
At a time of rising foreclosures and high unemployment, Oak Park needs to ensure that diversity remains intact. One avenue to keep diversity alive and vibrant is to provide new housing that will allow low to moderate income people to remain here, raise their families and keep Oak Park a robust community.
Housing advocates in this community and elsewhere feel that one important means of retaining that value is passage of an inclusionary zoning ordinance. The Oak Park Temple Social Action Committee hopes to engage the congregation around formation of a community-wide coalition to adopt such a measure here in Oak Park.
We hope you will attend and learn about efforts around inclusionary zoning during a forum at 10:30 a.m., May 16 in the Chapel. This is the third panel in a series on housing and homelessness, which the board of directors 18 months ago approved as the issue Social Action could concentrate on. A three-person panel will explore regional and national efforts and address the experience of Highland Park, the first community in Illinois to adopt an inclusionary zoning ordinance. Speakers will include:
- Nick Brunick concentrates his practice in real estate and affordable housing development and finance. While serving as the Director of Affordable Housing for Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, Mr. Brunick worked with developers, housing advocates, municipal officials, and community and faith-based groups to draft and pass local and state ordinances and statutes aimed at creating, preserving, and rehabilitating more affordable housing.
- Betsy Lassar is a policy analyst on the Affordable Housing team at Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI). Prior to joining BPI, Betsy served as Housing Planner to the City of Highland Park, where she was responsible for affordable housing activities, such as coordinating implementation of the City’s Affordable Housing Plan. That plan also included the development and implementation of its inclusionary housing program. She was past president of Congregation Solel in Highland Park and currently is the co-chairperson of its Just Congregations social justice initiative.
- Michael Belsky has been Mayor of Highland Park since 2003 and also served two terms on the community’s city council. He has been involved in the area of public finance on a number of different levels throughout his professional life.
Inclusionary zoning (or IZ as it will be referred to throughout this article) promotes the production of affordable housing by requiring residential developers to set aside a specified percentage of housing units in a proposed development and price them at a level that is affordable to low- and
moderate-income households. The program can be either a mandatory requirement on developers to create a certain number of units, or a voluntary goal with built- in incentives to encourage
developers to include affordable units in their developments. Such programs allow low- and moderate- income families to live in communities with better access to employment and educational opportunities.
This method has been used effectively to increase affordable housing in Highland Park, St. Charles, Lake Forest, Chicago and a number of other communities around the country.
