The Evanston City Council last week gave final approval to the sale of city-owned land at Church Street and Darrow Avenue to Mt. Pisgah Ministry and the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation.

The deal is part of a land swap which clears the way for HODC to begin construction of a four-story, 33-unit affordable apartment building at 1811-15 Church St.

The agreement was first approved by the council back in 2023, but drew strong opposition from nearby residents. Additionally, a next door property owner sued to block the subsidized housing project.

City Council approved a $158,000 payment last August to settle the lawsuit.

With the legal issues resolved and the land transfer finalized, HODC is working on closing the project’s financing, with construction likely starting within the next 60 days, according to Richard Koenig, HODC’s executive director.

The development is estimated to cost $22 million. Most of it will be provided through federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, along with $4 million in funding from the city.

But some of the financing will come from the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit (IAHTC).

Also known as the “Donations Tax Credit” it provides state income tax credits to donors who contribute cash, land or buildings to nonprofit affordable housing developers for up to 50% of the value of their donation.

“Affordable housing developments are pretty complicated to put together,” said Koenig. “You’ve heard of the concept of ‘lasagna financing’ for affordable housing, it takes so many different funding sources that this donation tax credit is a really important one.”

Allison Clements, the executive director of the Illinois Housing Council, says $510 million in assets have been donated to affordable housing projects, with the tax credit supporting the construction of 26,000 housing units across the state since 2001.

The state tax credit is set to expire at the end of this year. Two bills proposed in the Illinois General Assembly seek to extend it for another 10 years, and increase the program’s annual growth rate from 5% to 10%.

That would result in around $1.9 million in additional funding for the program, resulting in $41.8 million in tax credits being available in 2027.

“In the grand scheme of the state’s budget, this is a very small, not an insignificant amount money, but we think can really make an impact, and has proven to make an impact, on affordable housing,” said Clements.

She expects the legislation supporting the program to be considered before the legislative session ends in May.

Quigley proposes bill to boost home building

U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), along with Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) introduced a bill earlier this month that would reward communities that move toward removing regulatory barriers to housing construction.

• The “Facilitating Accelerated Supply of Targeted (FAST) Housing Act” would provide federal grants to 15 municipalities that demonstrate a significant housing shortage, and demonstrate job growth through federal investments such as through the CHIPS Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
• As Quigley told Crain’s Chicago Business, the Windy City might be one of the communities initially eligible for the grant program.

What’s happening outside of Evanston?

• Five-story, 27-unit apartment building proposed on the site of two-flats in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood, while 14 family-sized apartments are being proposed in a mixed-use building in Edgewater (Chicago Block Club).
• Short-term rentals spark policy discussion in Winnetka (Record North Shore).
• Illinois’ first co-housing community opens in Oak Park (Wednesday Journal). It will soon be joined by Evanston’s own co-housing project on Church Street.