The March 28 issue of Wednesday Journal reported on the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus identifying ways to make the village more affordable. In that article it was reported that “in 2022 in the village, an affordable home for a median-income earner would be roughly $293,000. But the median sale price was about $525,000. For Black U.S. households, making a median income of $50,000, Trustee Cory Wesley pointed out those houses would be nearly impossible to afford.”
According to Neilsberg Research (updated Jan. 4), www.neilsberg.com, the median household income for an African-American family living in Oak Park in 2022 was $67,714. The median household income for an African-American family living in Cook County in 2022 was $46,000. These might be more realistic numbers for the village board to think about rather than national averages.
Later in the article, “Wesley said he believes the answer is to build more units aggressively, a strategy he felt was not particularly prevalent in the MMC’s study and presentation.” In looking for vacant lots in Oak Park in which to build more units “aggressively,” there were two lots listed on Homes.com and one listed on landsearch.com or Trustee Wesley could have driven around Oak Park to see the lack of available vacant lots on which to build low-income housing. However, there are several options that could meet Trustee Wesley’s criteria not mentioned in MMC’s study as reported by Wednesday Journal.
Oak Park could just convert some of the empty retail storefronts in its business areas to low-income single or multifamily dwellings. Some of these storefronts have been vacant for years. This has already been done on Harrison Street between Ridgeland and Austin, although that housing was not low-income. A real win-win situation.
Back in a July 2023 village board meeting there was a discussion about what to do with two vacant church buildings in residential neighborhoods in Oak Park. It was discussed that a church building could potentially be converted into a fitness studio, music venue or school, possible uses being considered by the village. In September 2023 the board voted to allow the churches to be used for purposes other than a church.
My Google search failed to find any more recent discussion about these church properties. However, they also could be converted to multifamily, low-income housing and they are already located in residential neighborhoods.
Maybe it’s time for landlocked Oak Park to think outside the box to start building low-income housing — unless the village board really believes there is plenty of room in Oak Park to more build massive high-rise apartment or condo buildings in which “X” percent of those units must be low income.
By the way, how are things working out for that 5-story building proposed at Chicago and Ridgeland in March 2023? Should the footprint be changed to add about 20 stories so the village board can put “X” percent low-income housing there? It would be much better to convert a couple of residential neighborhood ex-church buildings to low-income housing.
Alan E. Krause is an Oak Park resident.