Dive Brief:
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The Chicago Housing Authority approved two construction loans, each up to $11 million, for two projects that pair affordable housing and city libraries, according to Curbed Chicago.
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The projects are on the city’s North Side. Each will have 44 apartment units that will be a mix of public housing and affordable-rate. Chicago-based Evergreen Real Estate Group will be a developing partner for both projects.
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Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is working on a similar project on the city’s West Side. The other two projects are designed by John Ronan Architects and Perkins+Will. The Chicago Plan Commission and City Council will see all three projects for final approvals later this summer.
Dive Insight:
More major cities are doubling down on ways to add affordable housing — some as part of larger budget initiatives and others as smaller efforts to try out new solutions.
Among the bigger initiatives is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Affordable New York program, which offers tax incentives to developers of projects with 300-plus units in certain areas of the city.
Last month, Cuomo revealed a $20 billion, five-year plan to increase affordable housing options in New York. The plan puts $10 billion toward building and maintaining more than 110,000 affordable units, 12,000 of which would be through the Affordable New York program.
On the West Coast, California state senators earlier this month passed a series of bills to alleviate the housing crisis, including a $3 billion affordable housing bond. Perhaps the most significant was Senate Bill 35, which streamlines the approvals process for multifamily projects in high-density areas that are falling short of their housing production goals.
San Francisco is also looking to deliver more affordable housing. Its Board of Supervisors recently approved a program that incentivizes multifamily developers to add more affordable housing to their projects.
Meanwhile, Portland, OR, is getting creative with its plans to combat a shortage of affordable housing. The county is piloting a new initiative through which it will pay homeowners to build an accessory dwelling unit in their backyard and host a homeless family there for five years.
The program was designed to give homeless residents a place to live besides a shelter while they wait for a permanent home. The city recently approved a $258 million bond measure to build 1,300 new affordable housing units, but they aren’t expected to be ready for at least two years.
San Francisco officials also recently allocated $44 million to an apartment project for local school teachers that is expected to be finished in 2022. This project is in acknowledgment of the difficulties city and state workers have finding affordable housing near where they work.