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The other Hot Topics Community Issues sections: Accessibility. Development. Quality. Schools. University of Chicago

HPKCC works mainly in collaboration with others to promote affordability (recognizing problems with defining that and also with official criteria). HPKCC actively pushes with regard to development for affordable residential set asides and for affordable retail spaces that will have attractive goods most of us can afford to buy, and monitors factors that may be contributing to high residential and commercial rent, such as allegedly the University of Chicago.
Visit our housing affordability information homepage and its many links to reports on what's happening and help available. See also applicable sections of our Community Nonprofits, Community Resources, and Helpline pages.

Many of our HPKCC members and many others in the community frequently assert that they either could not now buy the housing in which they or their parents now or formerly lived in Hyde Park, that they are being squeezed by rising assessments and taxes, that they may not be able to continue to live where they (owned or rental) or find such affordable and accessible places when they retire and become less agile, and that there is no retirement facility or independent or assisted living facility they can afford in the neighborhood. They see their friends and colleagues (such as former teachers) having to leave Hyde Park. They observe that developers and property managers such as MAC properties upgrade and steeply raise rents in whole complexes such as the Algonquin, Del Prado, (future) Shoreland, and in many small and mid-sized rental buildings. They see that much of the housing stock has been converted to condos they cannot afford-- and this could resume when the economy picks up. Or if they live in condos, especially larger buildings, they see special assessments-- including for city-mandated facade, life/safety and elevator work-- they fear they will lose their homes. And little affordable housing gets build here (is uneconomic) while the stock goes down citywide.

In response to two largely attended forums in 2007 and 2008 (promoted and participated in by HPKCC) on the observation that the middle class, especially seniors, and other segments from young faculty to the poor were being priced out of housing and the community, and desire to find solutions and create alternative spaces, the Coalition for Equitable Community Development was formed in 2008. It has since actively negotiated to make affordable housing in specific buildings, especially those being remodeled or in conjunction with developments, advocated for affordable set aside standards in developments and for affordable amenities such as transit, and started research on housing stock, costs and trends in the neighborhood and to identify housing suitable to be made affordable or the feasibility of building affordable retirement space in Hyde Park. HPKCC is proud to be an anchor coalition partner.
CECD website. Our page on the birth and issues of CECD and its findings and meetings.

In addition, organizations such as the Older Women's League Hyde Park look at how the housing crunch is tied in with accessibility (in homes, street and public buildings) and with wider affordability stresses-- healthcare cost and local provision and being able to stay in your home if ill or partially impaired, services and goods people have to buy, low cost and convenient transportation, even development-- will there only be left here stores with stuff middle class residents don't want or can't afford? They are looking into cohousing, cooperative housing, shared housing, and the "village" program, in effect a buying and services system. Others working on housing and affordability options and restoring people to self sufficiency, particularly for the marginalized, are Interfaith Open Communities, HPK Transitional Housing Project, the HP & K Interfaith Council and many faith institution committees, and the Hyde Park Hunger Programs. Links to these are in the pages linked near the top.

In addition to "affordability" and what might even be called a "right" for long timers not to be priced out of their community, HPKCC has fought since its founding in 1949 for Income Diversity as well as racial diversity as defining characters, hallmarks -- and asset-- of Hyde Park and Kenwood. This translates to being welcoming and inclusive and inviting all to participate in decisions that affect the community. These were a premise and spur to our very founding. (Of course, we have always wanted it all-- including the "high standards" part of our original mission, applied inclusively and in a welcoming manner. This leads to a very troubling issue on which Hyde Park has a divided stance: homeless persons. Takes on this question, from our neighborhood and broader reports, are in the Ending Homelessness page.

 

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