The second time was the charm for Mayor Daley’s plan to use enhanced developer incentives to solve Chicago’s affordable housing crisis: It sailed through the City Council on Monday, one week before nine new aldermen bankrolled by organized labor are sworn in.The mayor’s ordinance would broaden the city’s 10 percent affordable housing mandate to include all types of city land transactions, planned developments and zoning changes that increase density.

Units would have to be affordable to families that earn no more than $75,000, the annual median income for a family of four in the Chicago metropolitan area. That’s roughly $183,000 for a two-bedroom home.

Developers would be free to opt out of the requirement if they contributed $100,000 per unit to the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

Last week, seven aldermen used a parliamentary maneuver to postpone consideration of the mayor’s ordinance until the new City Council is seated.

Daley countered by calling a special meeting to ram through the ordinance before the May 21 inauguration.

On Monday, the mayor got his way by a vote of 44-2, but not before a pair of closer votes — with 11 and 12 dissenting votes respectively — that would have reduced the income ceiling.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) wanted to make it $60,000 or 80 percent of the area median. Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) would have lowered the bar even further — to $49,848-a-year for a family of four.

When the special meeting was over, Daley said his administration would “continue to be creative and use all the tools at our disposal to create even more affordable housing.” Without revealing specifics, the mayor said he would soon unveil “our new plan to preserve more of our housing stock.”

But Daley warned that the housing market in Chicago and across the nation is slowing — with a 20 percent drop over this time last year in existing-home sales here.

“We must be careful that new actions don’t slow it down even further,” he said.

Daley denied that he rushed the ordinance through amid concern that a more independent Council might go too far. He also played down what could be the foundation for an independent block.

Then, why the need for a special City Council meeting?

“Why not? Just get it done,” the mayor said.

Source:

http://www.suntimes.com/business/385284,CST-FIN-council15.article