The Board of Trustees’ proposal to change single-family zoning has generated a lot of angst on the part of many single-family homeowners and accusations of NIMBY and even racism against those who dare to question this misguided plan. I have several thoughts:
1. The contention that there is no middle-income housing in Oak Park is curious. There is a fair amount of what might be considered middle-income housing in the village, especially south of the Eisenhower and east of Ridgeland.
2. There is a national housing shortage that has dramatically inflated the housing market nationwide. Oak Park is not unique in this regard.
3. While there is no question that more housing is needed regionally and nationally, it is not clear why Oak Park, which is already densely populated and has a significant amount of multi-family housing, should be expected to shoulder the burden of supplying that housing.
4. Multi-family housing is not necessarily affordable housing. The premise that multi-family housing will address the paucity of affordable housing is simply wrong. We have added hundreds of apartments downtown over the last decade and few would be considered affordable.
5. The assertion that single-family housing is inherently racist as a justification for eliminating single-family zoning is odd. The desire to own one’s own home is universal across all ethnic and racial groups. In fact, the homeowners on my block of single-family houses are Black, Latino, Taiwanese, Indian, Filipino … and white. I suspect that this is true of most blocks in Oak Park.
6. The zoning proposal is unlikely to make a dent in the affordable housing stock because most developers can’t make a profit on a 4- or 6-unit building. At least that’s what they say when they ask for a variance on building-height restrictions. Which they do all the time.
7. If affordable housing is the goal, why don’t we build it ourselves? I can think of three possible sites ripe for eminent domain: the long-vacant Mohr concrete plant on Harlem, the half demolished IHOP building at Elmwood and North, and that burnt out husk of an apartment building still standing at Taylor and North.
Wendy Epstein
Single-family homeowner in Oak Park for 34 years