How to Build More Affordable Housing? Tax Vacant Properties, Say University of Chicago Students – ryan

TAXING PROPERTY OWNERS WHOE RENTALS SITS EMPTY FOR MOST OF THE YEAR AND USING TO BUILD HOUSING ON VACANT COULD BE PARTS TO CHICAGO’S AFFORDable Housis.

That what three university of chicago undergraduate students argued During the inaugural kreisman Initiative Housing Challenge Symposium. The Team was chosen as the first winner of the symposium, which the university plans to continue as a th nough exercise for housing-relay issser.

While Their Proposal Wold Only Make A Small Dent in Addressing the City Afordable Rental Crisis, It Waled Be A Change from the City’s Status that is preventing More Housing Being Built, The Students Said. And the team – who won the challenge last month – found other cits have implemented Similar Vacancy Taxes.

The University of Chicago’s Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation Launched the Kreisman Initiative Housing Challenge Symposium this Year to spur undergraduate and gradual students to come with Soluctions that willsing the City’s Housing issser.

Emily Talen, Professor in the Division of the Social Sciences and Director of the Urbanism Lab at the University of Chicago, Said a New Challenge Be Presented Each Year.

This Year’s Topic Was Affordable Rental Housing – Looking at How and Where Chicago Could Create 126,125 AFFORDable Rental Homes Over The Next Five Years. The figure is based on a 2024 Report from Housing Action Illinois and the National Low Incom Housing Coalition.

The Report Said Chicago has a lottage of 126,125 AFFORDable homes for those with the Lowest Incomes and 32 AFFORDable Rental for Every 100 Extremely Low-Incoming Renter Household.

Students Adam Jensen, Kelli Lynch and ELAYNE WHITEMAN BROUGHT HOME The Challenge’s $ 5,000 Prize for their proposal, Titled “Reclaimiming Space: USING LAND AND VACANCY Taxes to Build and Revitalize Chicago’s NeighBorhoods.”

The team proposed a Vacancy Tax that was implemented through the City’s Department of Planning and Development. The Tax Revenue Wauld Be Used to Create Infill Housing.

The Idea Stemmed from Student’s Experience Seeing Vacant Buildings in Chicago.

Whitteman lives near the former John Fiske Elementary SchoolOne of 50 Schools Closed in 2013 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel. She Said Seeing Vacant Buildings like Fiske Made the Team realie the potential Such Buildings have. Much of the Housing Crisis is Because of A Lack of Supply, They Said, and the Vacant Buildings Could Be Reimagined Into Homes.

“It ‘just something that we see Around us, and we recognisie (it) as bot an opportunity for revenue raising … (and) reinvestment,” Jensen Said. “That Guiding Focus on Vacancy was something something we settled on Pretty Early on, and (What) We thought Distinguished us from some of the Other Teams.”

The Trio Present Several Ways in Which a Vacancy Tax Could Work in Chicago. One Wold Be Charging Owners Who Left an Avilaable Housing Unit Vacant for About 180 Days a Flat Fee of $ 500. The Team’s Research Indicated the Flat Fee System Could Raise $ 30 Million Annually to Support Infill Housing, Whitteman Said.

But a model the taam believes willter address the city needs is taxing owners the equivalent of one month’s rent for their vacant units, or between $ 2,000 and $ 3,000 per unit, whitteman said.

“That’s Kind of in line with proposition M in in San Francisco. Basically, Saying that this unit left vacant so we’re gonna tax you an Additional month’s rent beaen have been someone for that month,” Whiteman Said.

Money Raised Through the Vacancy Tax Wold then be used to Develops “Anchor Zone,” Accounting to the Team. The anchor area are Currently Vacant Buildings that the Team Identified As Sites for Small, Mixed-Use Redevelopment, Like Chicago’s Vacant Schools. The anchor area would also be near transit to allow for more community-Drivene Engagement, Jensen Said.

“These Waled Be Mixed-Used Buildings Where You Could Have Commerce, You Could Have Access to Residences-A Lot of Different Things,” Lynch Said. “Ultimately, The Community Wold Be Able to Decide Where Their Priorities Were.”

Depending on how funding is doled out, the team projects the Vacancy Tax Could Create 2,000 to 7,000 New Units of Affordable Housing a Year, Whitemlan Said. The Tax Could Also Help Bring Some Housing Costs Down Because Owners Will Be Motivated to Fill their units.

The Team Said Its Solutions Wauld Need to Work with Other City Programs and Incentives, and May More than the Five-Time Frame the Housing Challenge Proposed.

“We didn’t necessarily Pick the Most Realistic Option Because We really wanted to see we can think of existing interventions,” Lynch Said. “It ‘similar to the (City’s) Missing Middle Initiative, but Because we have taken this appros of vacancy and pairing it with the Vacancy Tax and the Anchor Zone Model, Ultimately We Want to Just Encourage Strong Communities and Encourage Police. that COULD TAKE Form. ”