The La Grange Village Board unanimously agreed to create the new La Grange Housing Citizens Task Force.
The issue of housing policy, particularly affordable housing, has been the focus of several village meetings recently.
Village President Mark Kuchler said the new task force “would be created to review, specifically, to maintain and potentially increase affordable housing to stay in compliance with Illinois state mandates, and which will also, of course, help with a healthy community.”
The state Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act of 2003 requires non-exempt local governments that have less than 10% affordable housing have an Affordable Housing Plan to address the issue, and submit it to the state for review.
Currently, La Grange has an affordability rate of 13%, officials said.
The unanimous vote drew applause from several people on hand at the Village Board meeting, including some who have been active in urging the village to take such a move.
The task force will be composed of various La Grange residents with varying degrees of expertise and experience.
Kuchler said the group’s initial meetings would be educational and involve reviewing plans, going over the village’s Comprehensive Plan, and looking at results from communities with similar plans.
He said the village’s demographics and growth over the next 5 to 10 years would be analyzed, and special attention would be paid to groups such as seniors, renters and first-time home buyers.
Ideas to promote affordable housing in La Grange, Kuchler said, could include a housing trust fund and inclusionary housing ordinance “and other housing strategies that are well-recorded.”
Kuchler said the Task Force would be completely independent of the Village Board, although trustees could attend in an advisory capacity and it would meet monthly.
“The idea is that it would be 10 to 15 residents, depending on who would like to apply,” he said.
Janice Miller, of the , an eight-year resident of La Grange and one of the proponents of the task force on hand at the meeting, is a member of the La Grange Area League of Women Voters housing committee.
“We see the formation of a task force as the culmination of the work of this committee,” she told trustees. “Through the work of the League committee, we became aware of the housing strategies that are possible to increase housing affordability here in La Grange.”
Another resident who urged the board to create the Task Force was Ed Ellis, who related a personal story to illustrate the need for affordable housing.
He spoke of repeatedly noticing a woman at his storage locker facility near Shawmut Avenue at the same time every day.
He eventually realized she was living there.
“She worked at a restaurant here in La Grange,” Ellis said. “She did not have a car and could not afford housing. The only way she could keep working was by living in a storage unit.
“She was doing everything we say we value. She was working, she was contributing and trying to be a good citizen. And yet she could not afford a decent place to live in the very community she served.”
The next La Grange Village Board meeting will be 7:30 p.m., Monday, May 11, at the La Grange Village Hall, 53 S. La Grange Rd.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
