Glenview is set to adopt an affordable housing resolution in June, in accordance with a state act.
In December 2013, the Illinois Housing Development Authority notified Glenview that its affordable housing stock totaled only 7.4 percent of overall housing, below the 10 percent minimum prescribed in the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act of Illinois.
According to a village report to trustees on May 5, the act’s purpose was to “encourage counties and municipalities to incorporate affordable housing within their housing stock sufficient to meet the needs of their county or municipality.”
The act requires counties and villages with less than 10 percent of affordable housing among their stock to adopt a plan, stated the report.
The act requires local governments to include four components in the plan, the first being to bring the number of affordable homes up to 10 percent of overall housing, the report said.
The plan also must identify local land most appropriate for building the homes and identify existing homes appropriate for conversion to affordable units, the report said.
Third, local governments may provide incentives for building affordable housing in their jurisdictions, it said.
Last, the report said villages and counties must choose of one four goals for increasing such housing, which are:
* a minimum of 15 percent of all new development would be affordable housing
* a minimum of a 3 percent increase in the percentage of affordable housing
* a minimum of 10 percent of affordable housing in the jurisdiction
The act is not punitive and it has no regulatory statutes for compliance, the report said. However, if a plan is not filed and a village denies an affordable housing project, the developer may bring the matter before the state Housing Appeals Board, said the village report.
It further said a case has not been called before the board to date, and villages would be invited to present evidence in defense of such an accusation.
Other potential incentives are starting a community trust fund for purchasing affordable housing, expediting the building permit process for affordable projects and setting up zoning that would require a certain number of the homes, the report said.
Other incentives include reducing building fees for developers, creating a demolition tax of existing structures to finance the affordable housing trust fund, and working with developers in finding state and federal grants and private donations.
Jeff Brady, Glenview’s director of planning, said the incentives had not been used before in the village, and village staff is willing to take direction from trustees in reviewing them.
“We can get back to you by mid-summer on the incentives, and we can amend them anytime,” said Village Manager Todd Hileman. “Many of our surrounding villages have not actually adopted the incentives yet.”
Using state calculations, the village report also said the median annual household income for Glenview, which is included in the Chicago metropolitan area, is $61,045.
Of that income, the affordable monthly rent is $916 and an affordable house payment is $1,221 a month, it said.
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