Pardon my skepticism, but I’ll wait and see whether a new state law addressing affordable housing is all it’s cracked up to be.

Lawmakers gathered for a virtual news conference Monday to celebrate the launch of a program that offers developers property tax incentives to increase the supply of affordable housing.

“The lack of affordable housing is a crisis throughout our nation. It’s a leading cause of homelessness,” Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi said. “Cook County is the first county in Illinois to launch this program.”

There is no question that Kaegi and Democratic lawmakers on the call want more fairness and equity, especially for people with lower incomes who work hard but struggle to gain wealth.

“This bill creates several monetary incentives for residential developers to create affordable housing with multiple components aimed at strengthening our affordable housing laws and promoting diversity and equity in our state’s housing stock,” said state Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago.

The program steers tons of money toward creating more affordable housing. My concern is whether the legislation sufficiently addresses where new affordable housing units will be built.

Anyone familiar with the debacle over Buckeye Community Hope Development’s attempt to build a 47-unit affordable housing at 183rd Street and Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park a few years ago will know what I’m talking about.

The first clue is that if this law truly sought to add affordable housing in communities that have little or none, Republican

lawmakers would have fought it tooth and nail. That didn’t happen.

“It was so gratifying to have this legislation pass unanimously in both chambers,” said state Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights.

Lawmakers sent House Bill 2621 to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who signed the Affordable Housing Grant Program Act into law July 29.

Advocates sounded like this legislation will work some sort of “Kumbaya” magic in which residents of Winnetka, Lake Bluff and Kenilworth will welcome low-rent neighbors with open arms.

“This program will offer property tax relief to spur the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing units across Illinois,” Gillespie said. “Creating options for working families in every neighborhood will diversify and grow our communities in a way that works for everyone.”

My guess is the program will increase the number of affordable housing units in communities like Harvey, Robbins and Riverdale. Enclaves like Palos Park, Orland Hills and Burr Ridge, not so much.

That’s because people tend to recognize that their homes are their greatest means of accumulating wealth and passing it along to future generations. People aspire to get their feet in the door of neighborhoods with high median home values. Once inside, they want to shut the door and keep out the riffraff.

Affordable housing, after all, carries a whole lot of baggage, like unsupported perceptions of increased crime and other nastiness.

Local officials are powerless to regulate this sentiment. Just ask the Tinley Park Village Board. Buckeye proposed building affordable housing in 2016 and village planners tentatively moved forward with the project. Once neighbors caught wind of the proposal, opponents practically rode the developers out of town on a rail.

Everybody wants people to have access to safe, clean, affordable housing. It’s just that rich people want affordable housing to be built way over there, as far as possible from their domiciles.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the developer sued Tinley Park over the village’s rejection of the affordable housing project. The disputes eventually were settled for nearly $3 million. When all was said and done, the supply of affordable housing units in Tinley Park increased by exactly zero.

In a perfect world, every community would have an equal percentage of residential units designated as affordable housing. The problem with weak enforcement of state and federal laws is that affordable housing tends to be clumped in places deemed low-income and absent from communities with wealth.

From the sound of it, the new legislation addresses how gentrification can force residents with lower incomes from areas where property values increase because of new development.

“In my community we have a lot of affordable housing,” said state Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, who represents the Northwest Side. “It’s terrific. It provides a lot of great opportunities for residents to stay in their homes.”

“What happens is, as neighborhoods grow and thrive, the home values in those communities start rising,” Guzzardi said. “So there’s tremendous pressure on affordable housing providers to keep those units affordable while still being able to meet their rising property tax obligations.”

The legislation’s property tax incentives aim to keep affordable housing affordable, he said.

“It’s a really critical mechanism for us to solve one of the key challenges facing affordability in our city and our county,” Guzzardi said.

Kaegi and lawmakers said the Affordable Housing Special Assessment Program was similar to Cook County’s existing Class 9 property tax incentive program.

“The criteria for entry and options for participation are broader,” Kaegi said. “Class 9 was strictly limited to housing providers that provided 35% or more of their units at affordable rent levels. But this program recognizes different tiers of affordability at 15, 20 and 35%.”

Developers can apply now to seek relief on 2023 tax bills. The program provides incentives for the rehabilitation and construction of multifamily residential properties by lowering property assessments.

“In my district, throughout Chicago and Cook County and in neighborhoods from Uptown to Pilsen, Hyde Park to Rogers Park, generations of families are being uprooted due to rising rents and costs,” said state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, whose 6th District covers Lakeview and other North Side neighborhoods.

Guzzardi praised Kaegi for addressing inequity in Cook County’s property tax system.

“His focus on equity has made some wealthy and powerful people uncomfortable, people who used to get unfairly good deals from the property tax system,” Guzzardi said. “They haven’t liked Assessor Kaegi’s approach. But for the rest of us, the folks who are not benefiting from the insider dealings of the office previously, the system is getting more fair.”

That’s all well and good. However, I remain unconvinced that the new legislation does enough to compel all communities to increase their supplies of affordable housing.

Specifically, how does the legislation address situations like Tinley Park, where an affordable housing project was rejected because of public outcry? I asked lawmakers that question Monday and Gillespie responded. The legislation requires all communities to submit affordable housing plans, she said, and removes an exemption for home-rule towns.

“We added some enforcement authority with the attorney general’s office to ensure those plans are done,” Gillespie said. “In that regard we should be seeing more activity across the state as everyone now has to comply with those requirements.”

It may sound and look good on paper, but time will tell whether the amount of affordable housing actually increases in many communities

tslowik@tribpub.com