How DuPage County could expand affordable housing

A nonprofit affordable housing developer will add nearly four dozen units to the suburban supply with a new Glen Ellyn apartment building designed by the same architect as the town’s public library.

On the heels of Glen Ellyn trustees approving those plans, DuPage County officials have outlined how they could encourage similar projects and promote more affordable housing throughout the county.

Some ideas under consideration include creating a land bank and establishing an affordable housing trust fund.

“We think that it will be two really major tools in the toolbox for expanding housing opportunities in DuPage County,” said Colby Sledge, local policy principal at Grounded Solutions Network, the county’s consultants.

DuPage leaders made affordable housing a priority about two years ago. At that time, county board Chair Deb Conroy announced an ad hoc committee on the issue.

“There’s a willingness to work towards solving the issue in a variety of ways,” Sledge said. “And that’s amazing. It shows the leadership at the county level and at many of the cities and towns as well, that they’re willing to take this on.”

The county already has eased various zoning requirements. Most notably, the board set aside $5 million for an affordable housing program from county budget surplus funds in fiscal 2022 ($2.5 million) and fiscal 2023 ($2.5 million).

“The purpose of these next steps,” Jeremy Custer, the county’s senior adviser, said, would be to “make that $5 million allocation more effective in addressing this need.”

Proposed strategies

Over the past 18 months or so, county officials have examined the issue with the help of the Grounded Solutions Network, a national nonprofit membership organization focused on long-lasting affordable housing. DuPage has been part of a cohort group with a North Carolina county through the network’s “ForEveryoneHome” initiative.

“DuPage County and its neighbors see less of a housing supply gap and more of a housing supply mismatch,” Sledge said in an interview.

“In other words, there are lots of folks who are on either end of the spectrum, where they’re paying a lot of their income toward housing needs, or they’re paying very little of their income toward their housing needs.”

A land bank would enable the county to turn what are liabilities — vacant land or land that’s not being really used — into the potential for housing for residents at a more affordable rate, Sledge explained.

Land banks have the ability to acquire, renovate and sell properties.

There are more than 500 properties owned by various county entities totaling nearly 1,300 acres, or about 2 square miles, according to county staff. Not all those properties are readily buildable and would need to be vetted before a project takes place.

Sledge commended Conroy and the board for setting aside the $5 million. Of that allocation, the county board has only spent $150,000, which was used for the contract with Grounded Solutions.

“What the county now needs,” Sledge said, “is the ability to set up the housing trust fund so that they can consider a variety of initiatives to support housing in the county, whether that be creating new affordable housing, maybe helping with rehabilitation or preservation of existing affordable housing, or assisting in that development through some sort of grant or loan.”

What’s in the pipeline

In Glen Ellyn, the nonprofit Full Circle Communities intends to create affordable housing on part of an old hotel site near the Roosevelt Road corridor. No less than 55% of the units will be reserved as supportive housing for people with disabilities, per the terms of a redevelopment agreement approved by the village board.

The county also has set aside $1.75 million for the Glen Ellyn project, but it has not yet been allocated to the developer. It cannot be officially provided until they complete additional tasks, including an environmental review, according to county staff. An official agreement would come forward later this year for county board approval. Those dollars are provided from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Full Circle development is planned for individuals or households with a range of income levels.

Now under construction is an affordable senior housing complex in Addison.

“We work very closely with the municipalities. They’re 100% in charge of all of the regulatory requirements where we are one of the financing agents,” said DuPage Community Services Director Mary Keating.

The ad hoc housing solutions committee would put together the regulatory framework for the county to set up a land bank and housing trust, Custer told the board last week.

“I think the work that DuPage County is doing now,” Sledge said, “is going to really help its residents in the near and long-term future.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250316/news/how-dupage-county-could-expand-affordable-housing/