Community Need:
DESPITE THE RECENT DECLINE IN HOME PRICES, THE LACK OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS AN ISSUE that has become more and more prevalent throughout the country. Lake County is no exception. Between 2000 and 2007, the median home sales price in Lake County increased by 47%, while personal income increased by only 16% (when adjusted for inflation, the median home sales price increased 22% and incomes decreased 3.5%). While 2009 saw a decline in the median home sales price, the Lake County Framework Plan indicates that the median housing value in Lake County increased 81% over the past 30 years while the median household income only increased 24% during that same period. Housing costs have dramatically outpaced the growth in personal income, making housing less affordable for everyone and not affordable at all for many.
A minimum-wage worker would have to work 97 hours per week, or 2.4 full-time jobs in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's fair market rent in Lake County ($944). The lack of affordable housing also makes it difficult for local businesses to hire and retain employees. Recent data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security shows that of some 12,000 people who work for Highland Park businesses, nearly 80% are employed in the service and retail sectors, where the average annual salary is below $35,000. Interviews with public sector employers tell a similar story. Salaries for teachers, nonprofit staff, artists, city employees, health care workers, retail staff and others put housing in the area out of reach.
In addition, workers making long commutes add to traffic congestion have negative impacts on the environment and are forced to spend more time away from their families on a daily basis. Many families who are faced with the death of a wage-earner, residents who are going through a divorce, seniors and persons with disabilities are pushed out of the community. These trends have made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to maintain diverse, healthy and sustainable communities.
The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) identified Highland Park, Deerfield, Glencoe, Kenilworth, Kildeer, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Wilmette and Winnetka as ten of the forty nine "non-exempt" communities under the Illinois Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act, meaning that they are among the forty nine communities in Illinois which have less than 10% of its housing stock as affordable. The state law requires each of these communities to adopt an affordable housing plan designed to increase the supply of affordable housing in their communities.
Safe, decent and affordable housing is a basic, under met need for area residents and employees, particularly in the high cost communities mentioned above. CPAH is one of the few entities addressing the lack of affordable housing in the region and it is the only entity that builds a permanent inventory of housing that will forever remain affordable on behalf of the communities it serves.