Chris Adams Calls For Moratorium On Rogers Park Condo Conversions

January 19, 2007 | 12:55 PM

Chris Adams, candidate for 49th Ward Alderman, called Friday for a 12-month moratorium on new condominium conversions in Rogers Park and announced he would create a 49th Ward Low Income Housing Trust Fund – the first of its kind in Chicago – as part of a strategy to stem the decline in affordable housing in the 49th ward.

During a meeting with the Lakeside Community Development Corporation, Adams said that when elected, he would create a blanket amendment to the city’s housing ordinance that would freeze conversions for one year and allow the community to take stock of its housing situation.

“This is a pivotal time in our community,” Adams said. “We have more than 700 condominiums on the market in the 49th Ward with more conversions under way. As a community, we need to take a deep breath, evaluate where we are and make serious plans about where we want to go.

“In the meantime, I challenge Ald. Joe Moore to hold a public summit on the Ward’s affordable housing situation and begin collecting meaningful feedback on the direction the community wants to take.”

Adams' plan also would require at least one affordable housing set-aside for developments that include six to nine units and a 10 percent affordable housing set-aside for developments of 10 units or more. Developers would be required to submit formal affordable housing set-aside agreements

The Trust Fund would follow provisions already in place in the housing ordinance. Developers opting out of set-asides in the 49th Ward would contribute to the Ward fund, rather than the citywide fund. The money provides rent and mortgage relief and new affordable housing construction for qualified applicants.

Condo conversions in Rogers Park have dislocated numerous families and driven others out of the community altogether, threatening the cultural and economic diversity on which the community prides itself. Adams said Ald. Moore’s set-aside policies have been ineffective.

A report by the Lakeside Community Development Corporation linked the rapid increase in the number of new condominiums in Rogers Park to a sharp decline in rental units. According to the Lakeside report, Rogers Park has lost 3,600 rental units in just the last four years.

“The alderman has consistently presented the community with public promises of set-asides only to privately allow developers to choose less expensive alternatives, all to the detriment of the ward's affordable housing stock,” Adams said.

Adams said that under his plan developers would not be allowed to renege on set-aside agreements unless they showed actual financial distress and proof that they were pursuing all local, state and federal financing relief available to them and contributed to the Low Income Housing Trust Fund.

In its report, Lakeside Community Development Corporation recommended that the alderman use more aggressive down-zoning as a tool for community control of commercial and mixed use corridors in the ward. Adams said he would embrace the strategy and also use down-zoning to preserve lower density and the architectural integrity of neighborhoods.

“Change is an important part in the evolution of any community and there is a pressing need for our ward to evolve into a community that is better able to provide for the needs of its residents,” Adams said. “Retail, commercial and residential developments will be the driving factors in the evolution but the community has the right to oversee what’s happening and the alderman has the tools that can help.”