Live at the Forum Webinar -- Repositioning Suburban Multifamily Foreclosures

Wednesday, December 8 - Live at the Forum Webinar

Repositioning Suburban Multifamily Foreclosures: A Case Study from the Village of Oak Park, IL

Join us Wednesday, December 8 at 2:00 p.m. EST/11:00 a.m. PST for the next Live at the Forum session in the rental housing webinar series. Christine Kolb of ULI Chicago; Scott Goldstein of Teska Associates, Inc. and Tammie Grossman of the Village of Oak Park, Illinois will highlight efforts to bring foreclosed multifamily properties back into productive use, using Village of Oak Park, Illinois -- a Chicago suburb -- as a case study. The speakers will describe lessons learned from a recent technical assistance workshop, and offer strategies to respond to suburban multifamily foreclosures and create opportunities for long-term affordable rental housing.

Participate in the webinar The two-part event begins at 2:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. PST) with a 60-minute webinar that will provide an opportunity to listen to each speaker as well as ask questions. Click here to register!

Continue the conversation Immediately following the call, we encourage you to post additional questions and comments on the HousingPolicy.org Forum.

Learn more about Cook County's Preservation Compact on HousingPolicy.org.

To listen to a recording of this webinar and access other materials related to this series, please visit HousingPolicy.org.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ryan Sherriff on December 8, 2010 at 2:33pm

Are there any special incentives -- either in Oak Park or elsewhere in Cook County -- for preservation of affordable multifamily near transit?

Permalink Reply by Tom Loftus on December 8, 2010 at 4:08pm

I just signed up for the Forum! I am an attorney who has organized the nonprofit (501(c)3)) Equitable Housing Institute. EHI promotes affordable housing by helping to eliminate regulatory barriers.

I have a follow-up question regarding the one I asked at the webinar just concluded, about the utility of a right of first refusal to affordable housing developers to acquire foreclosed properties (at minimal cost) in areas like Oak Park. Thanks very much for your response to that question, btw.

Let me provide some context. Arguably, the opportunity for a person to access affordable housing is of fundamental LEGAL significance, in addition to being a basic human need. EHI believes that the Mount Laurel II decision in New Jersey (1983) correctly held that ALL barriers to that opportunity that are caused by, or are under the control of, government are illegal – and we know of no contrary judicial opinions. Numerous state Supreme Courts have joined Mount Laurel in holding exclusionary zoning illegal, and numerous states (including Illinois) have attempted to legislate around regulatory barriers. (There also is relevant Illinois case law.)

Following the principles behind those decisions and statutes, it seems to me that where a local government takes over control of a piece of property (e.g., multifamily building), and where there are people who lack the opportunity for affordable housing, that government should do nothing to stand in the way of that opportunity. Thus, it should not sell that property to a bank (as in the Oak Park case you discussed) or otherwise dispose of the property, without offering it to a developer who provides a reasonable plan to use the property for affordable housing.

The logic I have just outlined seems to apply regardless of whether the property owner obtains a government subsidy to provide affordable housing. And that approach seems to be of enormous economic importance, given the high costs of land in most of America’s metros.

Given that context, does the right of first refusal approach make sense to you for foreclosed properties generally? Please feel free to give me any further thoughts you may have. (EHI’s evolving website (http://cswac.org) contains further discussion of relevant issues.)