Housing report forwarded to council

reposted from the Naperville Sun Tuesday March 17, 2009

The Naperville Fair Housing Advisory Commission voted Monday to send its report on affordable housing to the full City Council, but not without strong opposition from some in the community.

“We will not include any programs,” City Project Planner Greg Jones said, referring to specific policy proposals.

While Jones stressed the need to start with addressing the problems of Naperville’s seniors, alluding to their fixed incomes and limited opportunities for employment, the commission in the end decided to endorse a recommendation accepting the recently completed Housing Analysis and focusing on renters, low income earners and employees of Naperville businesses as well. But seniors are recommended to be the initial priority of any policy undertaken by the City Council.

While the commission stressed that it was not endorsing any particular finding on whether or not there exists a housing affordability problem in Naperville, many parts of the study suggest that is the case.

“We need to concentrate on all four groups, not just seniors,” Commissioner Zelda Webb said. Commissioner Dianne McGuire seemed to agree with Webb, asking what the actual numbers of the seniors were in Naperville and if they were “really as destitute as the study suggests?” Several times Jones said all of the groups thought to be in need would be addressed and that any solution that helped seniors could help other groups, saying, “We want to make sure they are able to stay in the homes they have.”

Commissioner Sherman Neal expressed interest in “what was good for the city in the long run … it may be better to concentrate on renters and employees” that would help the city’s development in the future.

Several residents spoke out against sending the recommendation to City Council.

Kristen Jungles, of Ryan Hill Realty, questioned the validity of the analysis. “How many seniors are in your survey?” she asked, stressing that there were only 20 seniors represented in one part of the survey. Jungles also said there was affordable available housing in Naperville and to prove it, handed out literature on a “smart rent” program that focused on low-income people and put a portion of their rent toward the purchase of a home.

Jeff Merrinete, a Realtors lobbyist, pointed out the enormous nature of the undertaking and noted that many of the people the study focused on — people spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing — were adults and the “aggressiveness (in borrowing) was a choice they made.”

Sharon Worrell agreed with Jungles that the study rested on too few subjects and said, “I disagree with the findings.”

Others were impatient with any possible delay. Don Derrow of DuPage United, a nonprofit lobbying for housing relief for low-income earners, said, “the statistical validity has been questioned and addressed (at other meetings).” Commissioner Kevin Coyne agreed.

The vote to send the study to City Council for city staff to research and prepare policy options was unanimous.

The Naperville City Council is scheduled to receive the report at its first meeting in April.