CHICAGO — The federal government has their sights set on Chicago's use of aldermanic prerogative.
Investigators with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said Wednesday that the city has wrongly limited affordable housing by allowing members of City Council to reject developments in their wards.
In a letter first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, a fair housing official wrote, in part:
"... The City affords each of its fifty wards a local veto over proposals to build affordable housing, and that many majority-White wards use the local veto to block, deter, or downsize such proposals. As a result, new affordable housing is rarely, if ever, constructed in the majority-White wards … By limiting the availability of affordable housing, the local veto disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic households."
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
HUD officials said they want Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration to enter talks for an informal resolution to it's almost five-year probe of Chicago housing.
In 2018, ten advocacy groups filed a complaint with HUD that alleged aldermanic prerogative is discriminatory and violated federal civil rights laws.
"What we’ve seen throughout generations is white aldermen have vetoed affordable housing in their wards, which then concentrates all the affordable housing in Black areas," said Roderick Wilson, Executive Director at Lugenia Burns Hope Center and former Chicago mayoral candidate. "But also, it limits the number of affordable housing that can [be] built as well because we can’t spread it out more."
When asked for comment, the Johnson administration provided WGN News with the following statement from the Department of Law:
"We are always open to voluntary resolution, as evidenced by our multiple meetings with both the Complainants and HUD."
At the City government level, the City Council would have to decide to end aldermanic prerogative over affordable housing and so far, members have been resistant toward curtailing their own power.
A factor that could force the City's hand is whether HUD decided to withhold federal dollars until a resolution comes to fruition.
"I hope that we can come to a real substantive agreement or settlement where we really begin to eliminate this policy but change how affordable housing is built in Chicago," Wilson said.
"We’re in Chicago, we have $15 minimum wage — that’s twice the federal [minimum wage] — but in Chicago, if you have a full-time job, you’re working 40 hours a week, you only make $2,400 a month," Wilson added. "The average two-bedroom [apartment] is $1,700 a month. So, how can you even afford to really live here? You have to work two jobs, and if you’ve got a family, how can you be there for your family?"