A Housing Supply in Skokie Only for the Wealthy and Childless?

Like many, I have been following the issue of affordable housing in Skokie and hearing the stories of residents who are now being priced out of the market. In doing my own home research, it would appear that in the last five years, Skokie's Mayor and Board of Trustees have approved almost 1400 high-end rental apartments, although the largest project -- for 500 units -- apparently been put on hold for lack of full financing. Three of the larger residential complexes will now be the 400 luxury units at Old Orchard Mall, a 340+ combined townhouse-apartment complex at 5400-5420 Woods Drive, and 245 "adaptive reuse" rentals at 5202-5250 Old Orchard Road, with the potential to add 40-50 townhouses later.

The Village has been granting zoning waivers for building height, land coverage density, setback, parking, etc. to several of the developers over the years. Which is fine, but what has the Village received in return in terms of overall community benefit? Apparently, by somebody's measurement, a whopping 14 "affordable" housing units. That is a 100:1 ratio of living space for the wealthy compared to living space for the not-so-wealthy.

The Mayor and Village Trustees give lip service to the importance of a balanced housing market, making Skokie attractive to a diversity of buyers and renters, and revitalizing our suburb's business, hospitality, and retail sectors. So far, their performance merits a C-/D+. After more than a year of meetings, discussions, the formation of a Housing Sub-committee, and two failed Inclusionary Zoning ordinances, there is little to show. Besides the Oakton Street Yellow Line CTA station, it is hard to think of any major economic development successes. Watching the 8000 Lincoln/HighPoint apartment building's torturous land sale and stop-start-stop-start construction process over the course of six years was painful, to say the least. Then followed the Carvana debacle. Downtown Skokie remains a ghost town of empty or tacky-looking storefronts after 20 years. The ground floor commercial space at 8000 Lincoln has remained empty for going on three years, and the restaurant which was supposed to open in September 2023 still hasn't. For now, the Homewood Suites Hotel sits as a naked steel skeleton on the first anniversary since work was suspended due to funding shortfalls. Anybody who commutes via Oakton day after day must wonder why Skokie can't seem to put together any kind of successful economic development package. Alas, even worse, we seem to have lost Annie's for nothing.

After 24 years as the Mayor and 60+ years under single-party rule, don't Mayor Van Dusen, the Board of Trustees, the Economic Development Department, and the Village Manager have any sort of learning curve? I'm not even talking about a detailed learning curve, I'm just talking about a simple learning curve involving doing your own homework, performing due diligence, checking the numbers, and trying not to repeat the same mistake. Let's take Old Orchard for example.

1) It is entirely possible to build a first-class residential building with on-site affordable housing at little to no extra cost, if it is factored into the proposal from the beginning. Like maybe when the developer comes asking for some waivers? And far from us taxpayers "paying" for affordable housing at Old Orchard, that additional 1% additional sales tax gifted by the Village last year is basically subsidizing a private multinational corporation's profits and construction of its luxury apartments. As of March 2024, there was $5.36 million in that 1% account, with $4.8 million already disbursed to Westfield LLC. How nice that Westfield LLC will now be able to finance its OO Mall renovations on the backs of consumers, freeing up its own capital to pursue more profitable ventures -- those high-end, amenity-filled rental apartments. Bursting with confidence and big bucks, they increased the number of units from 350 to 400 a month ago.

2) Yes, it is entirely possible to rent to first-class tenants regardless of their annual income. Why? Because there are just as many rich jerks as there are poor jerks. Affordable, accessible housing doesn't bring in hordes of "those people" (whatever that means). Unless by "those people" you mean veterans, first responders, teachers, nurses, tradesmen, restaurant employees, young families, retirees/seniors on fixed incomes, folks with disabilities, etc.

3) The Mayor and Village Board have a fiduciary obligation to get the best deal possible for the Village as a whole in terms of benefits, not just give away zoning waivers and not ask for anything in return. Skokie should not be anybody's cheap date, the place where developers go to make as much money as they can get away with, because they know our elected officials are milquetoasts.

4) Personally, I do not like seeing my elected representatives continually siding with developers and approving residential projects geared primarily for wealthy households without children. Since when is it their job to protect developers' profit percentages? I do not want to see Skokie divided socio-economically between the rich and the poor, the gated communities and the six-flats, the amenity-filled, self-contained bubbles and the walk-to-the-store-drycleaners-gym-coffee-shop neighborhoods.

5) Finally, once Old Orchard turns into a private playground for the upscale residents of the 400 luxury apartments there, how many of us average Skokie residents will feel welcome to browse or shop at the mall -- especially knowing that the additional 1% sales tax that we are paying goes to subsidize a private multinational corporation's greed???

Solving the overall housing and homelessness issues is complicated, but starting a pro-active affordable housing program doesn't have to be. We have the close-in location, convenient public transportation, a great public library, highly-regarded school districts, a fairly active North Shore Center for the Arts. We are supposed to be a Skokie that welcomes everyone, and we have the political tools to do that -- if only the Mayor and Village Board would use them.