This week Chicago’s revamped Department of Housing rolls out an online dashboard with maps and statistics on developers’ compliance with the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance—a law that’s meant to spur construction of new affordable housing units. Users can explore a map of all the developments that have “triggered” the ARO since 2008 through requests for zoning changes or city funding or purchases of city land below market prices. The dashboard shows the number of affordable units planned, in progress, or constructed by community area. A second component maps data about the amount and uses of in-lieu fees generated by developments—these are fees developers pay if they want to avoid constructing any affordable housing at all.
The goal of the ARO is to incentivize private developers to construct affordable housing. If a developer wants a zoning change from the city to add ten or more residential units than what is already allowed on a site, or wants city funding for a project, or wants to build housing on a piece of city land purchased at below market value, the city requires a percentage of the planned units in that development to be reserved for affordable housing (the percentage required has varied through three iterations of the ARO since 2003 and depends on the part of the city where the development is planned). These affordable units can be built “on-site” in the development, or “off-site” within a two-mile radius.
“Before I came to the city, I heard a lot from fellow folks in affordable housing: ‘We don’t know where the in-lieu fees go, we don’t know what happens to that money,'” Novara says. “This should not be a mystery.” A 2017 audit by Chicago’s Office of Inspector General found that, among other irregularities, $4.5 million had gone missing from the in-lieu fee fund without explanation. It has remained missing as of a February update to the audit, though the city has disputed the OIG’s calculations.
