Taxes bring about many good things. Illinois already imposes modest taxes on real estate transfers, half of which go to the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which Illinois is deploying to build affordable housing across Illinois. is providing funding. Taxes are modest, simple, and go directly to good things.
The Adopt Chicago Home referendum we voted on this month would change the city's real estate transfer tax, reducing it slightly for property transfers under $1 million and increasing it significantly for transfers over that amount ($1.5 million). 4 times for transfers exceeding Tax dollars would be legally required to meet the needs of homeless Chicagoans.
I love creating more money for affordable housing. We need a lot more. Most of my work as an attorney is in support of affordable housing development. Bring Chicago Home could have been something like the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
But the attempt to “stick” to a high-end developer defeats the purpose.
One of the most important things Chicago needs to do to address homelessness is build more housing. It's about building all housing, not just subsidized housing.
Rising rent pressure in Chicago's more desirable neighborhoods could be alleviated by making it easier, faster, and cheaper to build housing at density levels that local markets can support. The most progressive thing we can do on this front is to upzone large swathes of Chicago so that developers don't have local conflicts with communities every time they try to build an apartment building. It is to do.
The reason is “not in my neighborhood”
This would cost nothing more than the willingness of city councilors from all political stripes to give up hyperlocal control over zoning. This needs to be done in the suburbs, too, where years of painstaking battles have been waged to use zoning to build even the most modest affordable housing developments and market-rate apartments. ing.
This is an area where progressive politics could undermine the needs of homeless and rent-burdened Chicagoans. Some oppose densification because it diminishes the attractive character of the neighborhood, others because they see it as a cash grab, and others because it fights the amorphous enemy of gentrification and builds new apartments. This is because tenants are worried that they will be evicted.
But city-wide, curbs on development limit the supply of housing, forcing renters out. Efforts can be made more effective by supporting affordable housing development in gentrifying communities so that low-income residents can stay there. Also This enables more dense development. When you're holding the lid on a very hot pot, don't be surprised if the rent starts to boil.
Raising taxes on transfers over $1 million has nothing to do with “taxing” luxury developers. In fact, it will only chill multifamily development. Nearly all apartment buildings being relocated in Chicago will exceed that standard, not just luxury apartments but also those housing middle- and low-income tenants. (Also, consider the number of luxury condo sales below the $1 million threshold.)
Some of that money may come out of developers' pockets, but some of it could increase rents for regular tenants. Significant increases in transfer taxes can also prevent transactions that would otherwise go forward simply because the numbers don't add up. Properties that are to be transferred to new owners for renovation or reconstruction remain intact. We need to make these types of transfers easier and cheaper, not harder.
Don't raise money to fight homelessness in a way that could create more homelessness. Researchers on the subject, such as Greg Colburn and Clayton Ardern's book Homelessness is a Housing Problem, provide clear data that homelessness is a housing problem.
The markets where homelessness is most acute are those where the supply of housing in general, not just subsidized housing, is tightened. Housing will not be built to meet demand, rents will soar, and the most vulnerable among us will become homeless.
We need more money for affordable housing and support services. The way to raise that money shouldn't be to cool housing development as a whole. This is one of the few things that has been shown to reduce the rent burden across the housing market.
By slightly increasing real estate transfer taxes on all transfers, we could create a dedicated funding stream to help homeless Chicagoans. Lincoln Square condos are on sale for $900,000, and vacant properties in the area will be sold for $900,000 and then redeveloped into luxury housing. Homes, and moderate-income apartment complexes for sale for $15 million.
It may be different from actually fighting homelessness. feel We are progressive when we do so.
Paul Balik is an attorney who handles affordable housing transactions.
The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and editorials. See guidelines.
The views and opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Chicago Sun-Times or its affiliates.
