Only 11 Percent of Housing in St. Charles is Affordable: State

Under a formula set up by the Illinois Housing Development Authority in recent years, only 11 percent of housing is considered affordable in St. Charles, the Daily Herald reports.

That number is not much higher than the state’s bare-minimum requirement of 10 percent and communities that dip below that number are subject to state-mandated affordable housing, including federal HUD housing programs, according to the article.

• St. Charles Seeks Affordable Housing Balance

Under old calculations, 23 percent of St. Charles housing was considered affordable and the new formula sets the price for an affordable, single-family home at $145,000, the newspaper reports. Aldermen are skeptical over the new formula.

“All of a sudden we just lost close to 15 percent of our affordable housing?” Alderman William Turner said. “This is absurd. You might as well say we have no affordable housing then. I don’t know any where you can buy a house in St. Charles for $145,000. To me, you earn the right to live in St. Charles. It’s not given to you by state mandate.”

Aldermen have been reviewing the city’s laws on affordable housing when it comes to new devlopers and are interested on how they might collect fees

Read more on the Daily Herald.