Enough affordable housing or not?

I am happy to hear that the Elgin City Council is proceeding with the ArtSpace project. This creative development will provide subsidized housing for struggling artists and their families right here in downtown Elgin. Just as the patron families of the Italian Renaissance supported the likes of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticini, our city should do no less in support of today's arts.

What I do have trouble with is the council's seeming hypocrisy in fostering this project for artists ($500,000 spent to date, $2.5 million later) while still holding to their mantra of Elgin having too much affordable housing already and refusing to consider any development with a housing mix that includes "affordable" housing units.

Their development strategy has resulted in a plethora of expensive homes and townhouses priced well above $250,000 and not one subdivision with any housing affordable to the median income family of Elgin, much less to struggling artists, teachers, store clerks, nurses, warehouse workers, janitors, landscapers, young couples ... you get the idea.

Also, I do question whether we do have "enough" affordable housing. If true, this fact would negate the need to subsidize these artists. Studies say they need this type of help. Also, if true, then overcrowding should not be a problem. The housing needs of all families would be met. Yet this, too, is an issue voiced at each council meeting. Also, if true, the Elgin Housing Authority should not have a waiting list of over 3,000 families waiting for an opening to occur, which it currently does have.

Bruce Trego

Elgin