Dan Buckley
Associate Editor
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026
On September 19th, 2024, the Chicago City Council passed the Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance “Northwest Side Ordinance” by a vote of 44-3. The ordinance is designed to fight gentrification and preserve affordable housing in a set area near “The 606” recreation trail that includes parts of the Avondale, Hermosa, Humboldt Park, Logan Square and West Town neighborhoods. The DePaul Institute for Housing Studies found that, between 2013 and 2018, communities on the western end of The 606 lost almost 60% of their two to six flat buildings. To address this, Chicago City Council passed two ordinances in 2021 that changed zoning regulations to reduce displacement in both Pilsen and communities near The 606. These regulations proved to be very successful in slowing demolitions and deconversions within the boundaries of the study area and resulted in the permanent Northwest Side ordinance passed by City Council last month.
The 606: a beautiful urban nature trail with unforeseen consequences
The 606 recreation trail, officially the Bloomingdale Trail, was the result of a “greenway” project to convert an out-of-use elevated railway line into an elevated running, walking, biking trail for the citizens of Chicago. The project began in 2013 under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and opened in 2015, with the trail running 2.7 miles from Ashland Avenue going west to North Ridgeway Avenue. The trail has proven to be immensely popular since its opening, and city officials have announced it will be extended eastward to connect with Elston Avenue with the additional hope of one day extending the trail further eastward across the Chicago river.
Unfortunately, as the popularity of the trail grew, surrounding areas of the trail saw rapid gentrification due to rising housing costs and demand. The DePaul Institute of Housing found that by 2020, prices for one to four unit buildings in the western half of communities surrounding The 606 had increased by nearly 344% since 2012 around when the project was first announced. This problem has only worsened and further studies have shown that The 606-bordering Logan Square and Avondale neighborhoods lost the highest percentage of affordable housing in the city between 2012-2014 and 2019-2021.
How does the Northwest Side Ordinance address this?
Chicago City Council passed the Northwest Side Ordinance with the goal to “safeguard naturally occurring affordable housing and prevent the displacement of long-term residents.” Experts consider affordable housing “naturally occurring” when the rent is affordable for low to moderate income renters without the use of public subsidies. To achieve these aims, the ordinance puts into place four main regulations that will govern housing in this set area: (1) protecting multi-unit buildings from demolition via the higher of a $20,000 per unit or 60,000 per building demolition fee charged to developers, (2) disallowing the conversion of two-flats, three-flats and four-flats to single-family homes on blocks where most buildings are multifamily apartment buildings, (3) giving tenants the right of first refusal and first opportunity to purchase their building, and (4) permitting the construction of two-flat buildings by right in areas that currently only allow for new single-family homes.
Future impacts and lessons learned
Critics of the ordinance worry that the additional fees and regulations will discourage developers and home-owners leading to disinvestment in the areas covered under the Northwest Side Ordinance. However, proponents have noted that the regulations merely encourage different kinds of development, like multifamily buildings or two-flats. The only new fees placed on developers are for demolitions of multifamily buildings and help to offset this loss of housing by helping fund the Chicago Housing Trust and other city projects designed to protect affordable housing. The success of the pilot ordinances in decreasing demolition permits along The 606 is further proof that the regulations are a net benefit to the impacted communities
Given the dire need for more affordable housing, Chicago must retain as much of its “naturally occurring” affordable housing as possible. The city must help protect the multi-flat buildings that remain in communities near The 606 and the regulations proposed by the Northwest Side Ordinance will help to slow the losses already suffered. Furthermore, city officials must see the development of The 606 trail as a strong reminder that future urban renewal projects must implement these kinds of regulations concurrent with development to prevent the loss of more affordable housing.