The Illinois General Assembly passed the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act in 2003 to help create more affordable housing in the state.
By Lizzie Kane | Chicago Sun*Times Contributor
Suburban communities in Illinois are failing to meet the requirements set out for them in a 22-year-old law aimed at increasing the state’s affordable housing supply.
The Illinois General Assembly passed the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act in 2003 to “address the shortage of affordable, accessible, safe, and sanitary housing,” the law says. It requires eligible municipalities to submit reports to the state every five years, detailing their plans to build more affordable housing units.
A new report found only around a quarter of submissions were compliant, according to Impact for Equity, a nonprofit focused on legal and policy issues in Illinois. All but one of the 44 jurisdictions that need to submit plans are in the Chicago area.
Article excerpt: “A 2021 amendment clarified that home rule municipalities — communities of over 25,000 residents with greater authority over their own governance from the General Assembly and the governor — are required to submit plans under the law. Many communities had previously argued that they didn’t have to comply with the law due to the home rule, the report said.
The communities that didn’t submit plans this year include: Barrington Hills*, Campton Hills, Elmhurst, Inverness, Lake Forest, Oak Brook, Prairie Grove, South Barrington*, Geneva, Hawthorn Woods, Lily Lake, River Forest and Third Lake. The majority of these communities also didn’t submit plans in the last cycle, which was 2020.
The jurisdictions whose plans were noncompliant include: Deerfield, Deer Park*, Frankfort, Glencoe, Glenview, Homer Glen, Lake Bluff, Lakewood, Lincolnshire, Lincolnwood, Long Grove, North Barrington, Spring Grove, Timberlane, Tower Lakes*, Wayne, Western Springs, Wilmette and Winnetka.”
Read the full article here.
*Two-thirds of BACOG community members didn’t submit plans or their plans were noncompliant. Barrington and Lake Barrington do not appear on the list.