Oak Parkers have much to be proud of in our community’s history of bold action to ensure fair access to housing — but continuing that legacy requires a break from the inadequate and largely ineffectual policies the village has adopted in recent years. Unless we advocate more forward-looking approaches, the Oak Park of the future will lose its identity as a national example of equitable housing that supports a vibrant, racially diverse community.
The 2024 independent report by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC), commissioned by the village, found that of the 1,676 total rental units built in the last 12 years, only 50 were affordable for the average resident. At the same time Oak Park housing prices have outstripped income growth. The report also notes that these troubling trends have been accompanied by growing racial segregation and a 10-year decline of Black residents from 24 to 18 percent.
The consensus conclusion of the MMC and hundreds of community participants in interviews and surveys is that the village must prioritize the construction of affordable housing by strengthening our weak Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and by sponsoring the construction of middle-sized housing like townhouses, duplexes, and structures with 5-12 units.
Diversity Oak Park set forth specific proposals for a more effective, affordable, and racially equitable policy in Wednesday Journal and to village trustees earlier this year (https://www.oakpark.com/2024/01/02/a-new-housing-ordinance/)
In the late 1960s and ’70s, Oak Park fostered housing opportunity through intentional integration — efforts to counteract open prejudice against nonwhite families looking to buy or rent homes. Sustaining the effort required a host of programs and a community relations committee.
Today, the village’s lack of affordable housing is the primary factor driving re-segregation. For example, the neighborhoods with the fewest rental homes and least variety in housing options are also the least racially diverse.
Maintaining equitable access to housing in Oak Park requires a new and varied set of tools to support affordability — policies that communities across the country have found successful. But these policies face opposition from developers who would prefer not to build affordable units and homeowners who fear that higher-density development will lower their property values.
Montgomery County in Maryland, which in 1973 was the first adopter of Inclusionary Housing in the country, boasts one of the strongest public-school systems in the country, requires all private housing developers to set aside affordable units (regardless of whether they require zoning changes, the more common trigger for a municipality’s affordable housing requirements). New Jersey requires that all townships provide their fair share of affordable housing, based on the population and demographics of each town. And both Chicago and Evanston have more robust Inclusionary Housing Ordinances and use zoning approvals more effectively than Oak Park to require new developments to contribute affordable homes to communities.
The commonly heard claims about affordable housing developments reducing property values do not align with the evidence, according to Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond.
Ultimately, Oak Park faces a bigger question: will we join other forward-looking communities in enacting policies that reflect our values as a vibrant, inclusive community? Or will we continue our drift away from the village’s legacy of courageous action on housing opportunity?
Please join Diversity Oak Park in demanding concrete action from the village administration to create a meaningful, pro-affordability zoning policy and to draft a comprehensive, community-approved housing plan based on the report’s findings and recommendations. Email us at rhlee@comcast.net or rohini.chojnacki@gmail.com and join the effort to make Oak Park a place of housing opportunity.