Affordable Housing Advocacy Group Meeting Minutes
Date: June 1, 2023
Location of meeting: Via Zoom
Time meeting was called to order: 7:04pm
Attendees: Kristin Berg, Nan Parson, Jeanne Wells
- Comprehensive Plan and Housing Plan.
a. Update on Housing and Comp Plan
Several in our group have asked to be in a focus group. There has been no further communication or update on the items below.
• The public phase will happen during the summer
• A community survey, a standard survey prepared by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) and used in other communities, will be advertised soon
• Focus groups, to include residents and other interested stakeholders, will be scheduled. Contact the City Manager, Joe Gilmore, if you would like to participate in one of the focus groups - Jgilmore@parkridge.us
• MMC is putting together an expert panel, to include officials from Northbrook and Naperville to advise council
• MMC will present a “menu of tools” around affordable housing at the second City Council meeting in July
• City staff will draft a plan with city priorities by Labor Day – less than 5 pages
b. Nan and Kristin are in contact with Alderperson Steinfels about a meeting to discuss AH and other topics. - Affordable Housing Petition from 2022
The petition concerns the Comprehensive Plan, not the Housing Plan. The language may be useful when the Housing Chapter of the Comp Plan is discussed. The petition can be revised to reference the Housing Plan, once we know more specifics about what the city is considering and what they may leave out. This may be after the focus groups or after the MMC presentation at the City Council meeting on 7/24. - Regional LWV Forum Report
a. Kristin attended the meeting held 6/1/2023 and gave a short report on housing legislation that passed and is pending in Springfield. Senate Bill 2037 Creates the Community Land Trust Task Force Act. It establishes the CLT Taks Force to collect data regarding the current use of community land trusts in Illinois and opportunities for expansion statewide, in addition to other specified duties. Land Trusts are a good way to create AH as the land is owned by the municipality and only the building needs to be financed/funded.
b. We discussed various ways the state could create legislation to increase AH units that would apply statewide. Increasing the % of units that should be affordable (now at 10%, increasing funding for the building of more units, restricting exclusionary zoning, encouraging construction/preservation near public transportation, and allowing cities the first right of refusal for any foreclosed residential properties were all ideas the group suggested. Kathy Cortez, LWV Housing Specialist, will create a list and relay back to legislators. - Collection of written stories of those in PR that need AH.
a. We would like to encourage those with lived experience of how difficult or impossible it is to find AH in Park Ridge to ask to be in a focus group. - Trip to Blue Island
a. Nan will try to get some proposed dates for a trip to view and discuss their AH projects - Upcoming Events
a. Gun Violence Prevention – Wear Orange 6/2-6/4. Wear Orange Weekend is June 2-4! Join us as we come together to build a future free from gun violence. Find an event near you: stv.fm/2afupo
b. Pride Month Kickoff Maine West HS 6/3. Please join our Second Annual Community Pride Celebration on Saturday, June 3rd from 3-7 pm at Maine West High School in the D-Wing Parking Lot. All ages welcome - activities including games, crafts, live entertainment, family friendly drag show, Chicagoland LGBTQIA+ organizations and queer history exhibits. This event is the result of a collaboration between SPEAK Des Plaines and the Maine West GSA sponsored by the It Gets Better Project. https://sites.google.com/maine207.org/mw-gsa/home
c. June Action Ridge Meeting 6/14. Action Ridge has long been an advocate for the adoption of the ERA as an amendment to the US Constitution. Earlier in May, our own ERA activist, AJ Conroy, sent us “good news”. The Resolution to affirm the ERA passed in the Illinois House. Action Ridge sent Witness Slips urging the Illinois Senate to pass the Resolution as well so that it, along with other State Resolutions, can be sent to the US Legislature. Proponents of the ERA are urging the President and the Congress to certify the Resolutions so that, finally, the ERA can be adopted. AJ will explain where the fight for the ERA currently stands. She’ll give us ways that we can help with the on-going fight.
d. Book Discussion 6/28. The next book will be: “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb. Copies have been ordered at the library for Action Ridge and a few members have extra copies of the book. Please email actionridge2017@gmail.com if you need to borrow a copy. We will meet at the Park Ridge Community Church on Wed., June 28 at 7:00. - Time meeting adjourned: 7:50pm
- The next meeting will be Thursday, July 13th, at 7pm on zoom.
