A lottery for those who want to live in the newly revamped Lathrop on the north side is now open for nearly 100 affordable housing units set to be unveiled starting this summer.
Affordable housing units are intended for those making 80 percent of area median income or less. But there is also a floor to how little households can make to qualify. The federal government judges housing to be affordable if paying for it does not claim more than 30 percent of a family’s income. According to information Lathrop Community Partners has posted online, the minimum household income required for one- , two- , and three-bedroom affordable units at the site are $28,560; $34,290; and $39,600 respectively. Rent prices are estimated to be $868; $1,040; and $1,199 respectively. The developer says the prices are approximate and no one will pay more than 30 percent of household income in rent for affordable units.
Though the redevelopment of Lathrop will increase the overall density on the site, advocates have long bemoaned the net loss of public housing units in what is today a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood near jobs and amenities. At the start of the Plan for Transformation and until about 2006, the CHA had promised to fully rehab Lathrop as 100 percent public housing, something which was done at the Dearborn Homes on the south side and the Brooks Homes on the near west side. Negotiations over converting the property to mixed-income housing dragged on for a decade, with dozens of sometimes contentious meetings with community members, residents, affordable housing advocates, and the CHA. The master plan for the site has been overhauled several times due to concerns over proposed new building heights, historic preservation, and tenant selection plans. Ultimately, there will be 525 fewer public housing units on the site, though the CHA has entered into a court-monitored agreement to replace them elsewhere on the north side. The agency could not provide an update on how many, if any, of those units have been created so far.
