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State Government Network Advocacy
AIA Illinois Executive VP Mike Waldinger presents AIA IL advocacy strategies to the membership of the AIA State Government Network during their conference in Chicago in August 2007.
2006 Legislator of the Year
AIA Awards Legislator of the Year Rep. Miller
Visits to the Capitol
AIA-IL visiting Sen. Durbin's office.
AIA advocates meet with Rep. Rahm Emmanual's staff.
Architects In Action
AIA Illinois architects greet Sen. Durbin
9 comments:
Debut Policy – Affordable Housing Options –DRAFT 06 25 07 – updated 7/29/07 – updated 8/21/07
Introduction:
Housing is the provision of collective shelter from elements, a place where security is created, and families form from a sense of stability. The architect’s/architecture’s most primitive function is the provision of shelter. Availability of a diverse housing stock is vital to healthy, livable communities.
According to Housing Action Illinois, “nearly 1.66 million renters and homeowners in Illinois, or 35% of all households, are paying more than 30% of their income on housing. This year, Illinois is the most expensive state in the Midwest and the seventeenth most expensive state in the nation for renters with a Housing Wage of $15.95. The National Housing Wage is $16.31. Lack of affordable housing is the primary cause of homelessness. Homelessness leads to disruptions in family life, education, and employment.”
AIA Illinois believes that housing is a human right, but as evidenced above, today in Illinois there is a serious housing crisis. Homelessness is counter-productive to the creation of healthy, livable communities.
Architect’s have a vested interest in stabilizing this crisis through their business, and because housing is key to sustainable communities.
Principles/Position:
AIA Illinois supports new incentives and funding for the construction of affordable and workforce housing and related infrastructure.
We are uniquely trained to advocate for innovation in planning, design and construction techniques that seek to reduce construction costs while providing a sense of community and maintaining standards for building safety.
We also believe that the definition of affordable needs to expand to include the life of the building not be limited to its first cost. Thus we also support the restructuring of the funding mechanisms for affordable housing so that energy efficiency and durability are recognized in terms of the life of the building. This may mean that the initial cost is slightly higher, for a longer lasting material or more efficient equipment.
Goals:
1. Support legislation to restructure construction funding so that developers have an incentive to lower building operating costs
2. Support Legislation or Plans that require “More Options”
- A Continuum of rental and for sale requirement for communities that contribute to healthy communities.
-- Recognition of different (or “non-nuclear”) “Family types., Special Needs and also Workforce Housing
3. Support legislation and/or budgets that support Special Needs Services Funding because there is evidence that spending this money lowers societal costs everywhere else.
4. Building Codes can help achieve these goals, ie Energy, lower operating costs
5. Increasing Public awareness
6. Design innovation
Informational References:
- Housing Action Illinois
- http://www.housingactionil.org/
- “Out of Reach 2006”: This report provides the Housing Wage and other data for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country. http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2006/?CFID=17042410&CFTOKEN=27696643
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
- http://www.chicagohomeless.org/
Metropolitan Planning Council: Metropolitan Planning Council Media Guide to the 95th General Assembly: Affordable & Workforce Housing, January 24, 2007 http://www.metroplanning.org/resource.asp?objectID=3664&categoryID=2
Supportive Housing Providers Association – January ’07 Report: http://www.supportivehousingproviders.org/SupportiveHousingBrief06v3.pdf
National Low Income Housing Coalition http://www.nlihc.org/template/index.cfm
National AIA : Issue Brief: Affordable Housing/Community Revitalization/Historic Preservation http://www.aia.org/SiteObjects/files/Jones_English_2007.pdf
Recent Housing Legislation:
Housing Comprehensive Housing Planning Act: Legislation was passed that requires the state to develop and update an annual comprehensive housing plan to address the needs of underserved populations such as low- income families, seniors and people with disabilities. The Comprehensive Housing Planning Act codifies Governor Blagojevich's Executive Order 2003-18 and is the culmination of years of advocacy by housing organizations to encourage the development of affordable housing. This legislation ensures that future governors will follow the example of Governor Blagojevich and prioritize the housing needs of low-income families.
Federally Subsidized Housing Preservation Act: In 2004, legislation was passed which will preserve affordable housing stock by requiring owners of buildings that receive a federal subsidy to notify their tenants of their intention to “opt-out” of the program and give tenants the first right to purchase the building at fair market rates.
Homelessness Prevention: In 1999 legislation was passed to help families experiencing short-term emergencies with grants for delinquent rent, utility payments or security deposits. In the first three years, the program prevented homelessness for more than 5,000 families.
Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention: In 2000, the “Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance and Counseling Program Act” provided financial counseling and short-term mortgage payments to families experiencing an emergency and facing the threat of mortgage foreclosure.
Property Tax Protections for Homeowners: In 2000 legislation was passed to expand protection for homeowners who pay their property taxes on time but, due to bureaucratic error, have their taxes posted to the wrong index number and face losing their homes — inspired by Mrs. Willie Weeks, the Evanston homeowner who experienced this serious problem.
Illinois Housing Initiative: Governor Blagojevich's Executive Order #18 created the Illinois Housing Initiative (IHI), a five-year plan to spur more construction and rehab of affordable housing for our State's most underserved populations -- such as very low-income families and people with disabilities. An interagency task force will develop an annual comprehensive housing plan, and report annually on progress being made to achieve the plan. The IHI will pool a portion of available federal and state resources and streamline the application process.
Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act: This legislation would clarify some of the outstanding issues from the previous version of the law under which local municipalities with less than 10% affordable housing have created housing plans, including: additional tools for local governments to develop more moderately-priced housing; intergovernmental agreements among municipalities as to how the 10% goals will be met; standards for review of appeals by the Housing Appeals Board; restriction on appeals to the Appellate Court to the district in which the local government involved in the appeal is located; creation of the a Housing Appeals Board as of January 1, 2008 rather than 2006.
OK everyone - here it is - please, please, please comment away!
Susan,
In follow up to our conference call, her is a first pass at expanding the "Design Innovation" point under Goals:
To seek out innovative design strategies and solutions with limited budgets. Explore cutting–edge project examples including the planning of livable communities, innovative building design, healthy and durable materials, and affordable construction techniques.
Related to our conversation earlier this week, let's consider substitution of the following text noted under Goals, Item #4. "Building Codes can help achieve these goals, ie Energy, lower operating costs"
with something such as: "Encourage adoption of building codes that improve energy efficiency and reduce operational or life-cycle costs."
As a footnote, we may want to add the following definition of "Housing Wage": Housing wage is defined as the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit at a range of sizes (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms) at the area’s Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs. From these calculations the hourly wage a worker must earn to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom home is derived.
Credit for the definition should be attributed to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
This legislation would clarify some of the outstanding issues from the previous version of the law..
--
Jenifer
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