Chicago Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara to step down

Chicago Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara is clearing out her desk at City Hall in a major exit for Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Novara, a holdover from the administration of former mayor Lori Lightfoot, announced her resignation after leading the department for four years as the city struggled with the pandemic, homelessness and gentrification of poor neighborhoods, the Chicago Tribune reported.

An effective termination date was not disclosed. Novara was appointed in 2019 by Lightfoot after serving as vice president of the Metropolitan Planning Council.

She is the first major department head to resign under the new mayor, who defeated Lightfoot in an April election to advance into a runoff with Paul Vallas, who also fell to the progressive Johnson.

During her tenure, Novara focused on affordable housing and unwinding the city’s deeply rooted segregation. Progressives criticized her for not moving fast enough, while conservative aldermen attacked her for pushing through affordable housing in instances they objected to the development projects.

A major policy win for Novara came with her overhaul of Chicago’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance that boosted affordable unit requirements for developers. 

Since then, some of Chicago’s biggest developers lauded a new property tax incentive created by state officials that has offset some of the extra cost of putting more affordable apartments into new buildings to satisfy the city’s new rules, while also promoting the construction of new affordable homes.

Another victory for Novara included a plan to create $1.3 billion in affordable housing to help spur investment in underdeveloped neighborhoods, while boosting affordability in gentrifying parts of town.

She scored another triumph when the city council OK’d plans for an affordable housing development on the Far Northwest Side, despite strong opposition from its alderman. Fellow council members almost always defer to the desires of the ward representative when it comes to real estate development decisions.

Novara also led negotiations with activists fighting for affordable housing protections in Woodlawn and other areas near the rising Obama Presidential Center. A resulting ordinance in 2020 supported area residents who feared being priced out of their homes.

And at the dawn of the pandemic, Novara’s staff found hotel rooms and other shelter for emergency housing, while managing housing assistance grants.

So far, it’s unclear how quickly or easily Johnson could fill the position after Novara’s departure is finalized.

— Dana Bartholomew

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