My family, in the last 120-plus years in Oak Park, has built two single-family homes, and two commercial-residential properties. As a longtime contractor, resident and landlord, I can assure you that no developer is interested in building affordable housing. They are trying to make the most profit possible. The supply and demand theory, that we just need to build more, is flawed. They assume we will outstrip demand. With all the high-rises and the number of apartments added in the last decade, the rents have not been driven down at all but have gone up. When you build so many multifamily and high-rise structures, you destroy the very fabric of this village. Then the prices will drop, leaving existing homeowners with financial losses in a village that they and you no longer want to live in.
With each single-family home you demolish, those homes and their neighborhoods, constitute the very foundation of this village. If you destroy the foundation of anything, what do you have left?
Abolishing single-family zoning is a misguided attempt to address affordable housing; disregarding the massive consequences is irresponsible.
While the federal government is ignoring the voice of the people, I would hope our village government will listen and either just vote no or send this to a referendum.
Jim Gilchrist
Oak Park