Since January, a small group of Du Page housing advocates, developers, lenders, real estate dealers and municipal officials quietly have been working to address one of the county`s most pressing matters: the amount of affordable housing.
The players in this group say they have surveyed the prosperity of the landscape-the shopping malls, the new homes and the growth of highways-and set to work on increasing the housing stock for those who can`t afford a $300,000 or higher subdivision address.
The group was organized by the non-profit Homeownership Center of Wheaton, and is devising a plan to try to build $110,000 homes modeled after other affordable housing construction programs underway in Chicago and Grand Rapids, Mich.
The ”new construction working group” has yet to acquire any land or mark a site to launch their effort, although they are looking at several 5- to 15-acre tracts to build starter homes. But they say their first mission is to bring more private sector entities and public officials together to pave the way for construction of the homes by private builders.
Officials of the blanket organization say they hope to build their first homes by late 1993.
Under the plan, families earning 50 to 80 percent of the Du Page County median income would be eligible to buy a starter home. For example, the median income for a Du Page family of four is now $48,400, and 80 percent of that is $38,600 a year.
Robert Christ, 65, board chairman of the Homeownership Center and a former Presbyterian minister who describes himself as ”a do-gooder,” said his agency is trying to spur the private sector to look into building starter homes as a marketing niche in Du Page.
”Essentially, it`s bringing the people who are the major players in expanding the supply of affordable housing to the same table,” said Christ, former manager of a Catholic Church-operated apartment complex in Wheaton for low-income persons.
But the group says a number of hurdles still stand in their way, including public misperceptions of the term ”affordable housing.”
”There`s a concept in people`s minds that when you`re talking about affordable housing, you`re talking about low-income housing projects,” said Bob Price, executive vice president of Northern Illinois Homebuilders Assocation in Warrenville. ”We`re talking about housing for professionals, policemen and firemen and other people who would have difficulty locating in this county because of the median price of the home.”
Lynn Montei, executive director of Du Page Mayors and Managers Conference, agrees that such a public perception exists, but said elected officials throughout Du Page also recognize that their towns must increase the availability of affordable housing.
Christ met with Montei on Monday to discuss, among other issues, the likely reaction of municipalities toward modifying existing zoning laws to allow homes to be built on smaller plots of land.
