May 2007:
Federally, progress

H.R. 1427, the Federal Housing Finance Reform       Act of 2007, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22 by a vote of 313-104. The bill creates an Affordable Housing Fund of about $600 million a year. For the first year, the money will go to Louisiana and Mississippi to rebuild rental housing affordable for very low and extremely low income people. After that, the funds     will become a dedicated source of revenue for the future National Housing Trust Fund.

March 2007: Inclusionary Housing now required, but ...

On March 12, 2007, the City Council did pass an "amending" Inclusionary Housing Ordinance! It requires a 10% affordable set-aside in eligible buildings (new construction of 25 or more owner-occupied units) but allows payment of a fee of $40,000 per affordable unit  in lieu of setting aside units on site. 

The city is preparing an ordinance creating an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, into which the feees collected from this ordinance will be deposited. This Trust Fund ordinance will specify uses of the funds to further affordable housing in Evanston. When that ordinance is passed, it will be posted on this site.

This site was built and is maintained by an unincorporated group of affordable housing advocates. It is intended to track progress towards the goals outlined in the documents found under "Background" in the left column menu.

Blogs & such:

Several blogs and other sites are now keeping up with day to day developments. Be sure to check out:

Evanston Now: Incorporates its own blog, several others (Sue Carlson has a page there), and lots of current news.

Round Table newspaper: Also very quick on updates of city council actions, election results, etc.

Alderman Ann Rainey's site/blog: Sometimes in the opposition, but an active blog, with participation from her ward's constituents.

Daily Northwestern: Site of NU's student-run newspaper. Very concerned with affordable housing at one point had comprehensive maps of current development.