St. Charles panel presents new affordable housing law

Since 2000, the cost of buying a home in St. Charles has risen at more than double the rate of household incomes, making it increasingly difficult for the people who work here to live here.

Couple that trend with recent state legislation that sets new municipal standards for affordable housing and you might see why city officials appear worried.

"This kind of sums up what scared us the most," said Cindy Holler Larson, chairwoman of the city's housing commission. "If that (trend) continues to happen, we have an unbalanced community."

On Monday, Larson and other city officials unveiled a new "inclusionary" housing ordinance they hope will make St. Charles a more affordable place to call home.

The ordinance, expected to gain city council approval by the end of the year, essentially ups the ante for developers investing in new construction locally by forcing them to include various percentages of affordable units in their projects or pay fees to a city trust fund for affordable housing programs. It also would set rigorous, new guidelines for houses being torn down and rebuilt.

Mayor Don DeWitte said the effort is "in the best interest of the entire community," where the median household income is now $79,807 while the median home price is hovering around $304,750.

City officials still are investigating how best to guarantee an affordable housing unit remains affordable long-term and also how and who will decide which families qualify for affordable units.

The definition of affordability, in St. Charles' case, varies based on the size and income of a household.

In cases of developer fees instead of new construction, the money would go to a trust fund for homeowner grants, rental assistance and other aid to be offered by the city.

The ordinance has been in the works since early 2006, when the city created a housing commission in response to the new state legislation.

The city estimates that it is narrowly meeting or falling just short of the state's new standards. Larson said the ordinance, to be posted at www.stcharlesil.gov, is only one of several strategies for getting back on track.

"What you're seeing is just a beginning," she said.