The city of Naperville showed it is finally ready to listen to local concerns about its lack of affordable housing.
More than a dozen residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families gathered at last week’s city council meeting to argue in favor of an affordable housing development in the western Chicago suburb.
Wisconsin-based Gorman & Company is in talks to purchase and develop six acres of city property at the corner of 103rd Street and State Route 59 into an affordable housing complex for IDD residents and seniors, the Naperville Sun reported. The project’s approval has been on the council’s agenda since mid-July, but it has repeatedly tabled the talks.
Gorman plans to build a development where 25 percent of the affordable housing units will be reserved for adults with IDD and the remaining 75 percent will be for seniors aged 62 and up.
To keep the housing affordable, the cost of the land, improvements and fees cannot exceed more than 6 percent of the project cost, unless additional funding assistance or concessions are provided. Gorman has to consider more than $700,000 in added expenses, including park and school impact fees.
Ron Clewer, Gorman’s Illinois market president, said many communities can take advantage of Community Development Block grants or funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure that housing remains affordable. This could be a safety net to keep the project within the necessary budgetary threshold.
Once approved by the city council, Gorman will need to submit its plans for review before the project can move forward.
Read more
Residential
Chicago
Naperville planning board rejects affordable housing incentives
— Victoria Pruitt