As we discuss what the village of Oak Park can do to address housing affordability, it is important to know: no single policy change will fix it. But as a board, we have tools we can use to help: changing the zoning code to allow for more middle-density housing, expanding the inclusionary housing ordinance, and ensuring that they work together to encourage the right mix of affordable and market-rate housing.
If we don’t act, home prices will continue to rise in Oak Park, new families will not be able to afford moving here, and we risk the closure of our schools. I have seen what that means for a community like ours because I used to live in one.
I grew up in Lake Oswego, Oregon, an affluent suburb of Portland. My parents, both teachers, decided to move there because of the excellent schools.
I graduated from Lakeridge High in 2001. But just 10 years later, their school board closed three elementary schools, including the school where I went and where my mom taught Special Ed.
Why? Because there were not enough new families moving there to support enrollment; the median home price in Lake Oswego is $932,000, double the amount in the surrounding areas.
Fast forward to 2018: my family with two young children decided to move to Oak Park for the good schools and racial diversity. Needless to say, we would not be able to afford a $932,000 home, and if prices were that high in Oak Park, we would not have moved here. And certainly, there would not be racial diversity.
If we want to avoid Lake Oswego’s future in Oak Park, to keep our schools open, and to continue seeing new, diverse families moving in, we must address housing affordability.
Thankfully, there is time to act in Oak Park, but it’s a long road. Our median home price is $525,000, which is high for Illinois and above the national average. Oak Park is less affordable than all of our neighboring municipalities except for River Forest and Riverside.
To increase housing supply and diversity, the biggest policy tool we have is changing our zoning code, which currently restricts the vast majority of our village (86%) to one building type: the single-family home.
Allowing for building duplexes, 3-4 units, and ADUs (accessory dwelling units), in addition to single-family homes across the village, would allow for more middle-density housing to be built slowly over time, increasing supply and reducing costs, without changing the character of our neighborhoods.
However, changing the zoning code alone will not guarantee that any of the new units built will be affordable. To do that, we must revisit our 2019 Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO) that requires 25+ unit multifamily developments to either include affordable units or pay a $100,000 fee for each affordable unit not provided.
Despite the good intentions of this ordinance, Oak Park remains in the bottom 7% of Illinois municipalities for housing affordability, and 44% of our renters are cost-burdened.
We need to lower the threshold of units covered by this ordinance and increase the fees for not providing affordable units to better align with the cost of building.
How would these changes impact Oak Park? We can look to cities that have already made these changes and see how they’ve fared.
In 2018, Minneapolis adopted their 2040 Plan, ending single-family zoning citywide, eliminating parking minimums (which IL has already done for most of Oak Park in the People Over Parking Act), expanding their IHO, and many other transportation, environment, equity, and economic policies.
Six years later, their results are encouraging. Between 2020-2024, rents in Minneapolis fell by 4% compared to a 22% average national increase, and 87 new duplex, triplex, and fourplex buildings were permitted, creating 225 new housing units that would have otherwise not been built. The affordability crisis is not fully solved there, but meaningful progress has been made.
If we pass these changes in Oak Park, what will happen?
If you are a single-family homeowner, and your house is in good condition, nothing will change for you.
If your single-family home is in poor condition and is being sold, you may see a 2-4 unit building replacing it instead of a luxury $1.5M single-family home.
If you are a senior, you will see slightly more housing options to downsize into.
If you are a renter, you will see slightly more rental options.
If you are a low-income renter, you will see slightly more affordable rental options.
Given the scale of the housing affordability crisis, seeing real, meaningful progress within a few years of passing new local policies is a good goal to strive for. We must try.
Derek Eder is an Oak Park village trustee. View his original post with links and citations: derekeder.com.