New Affordable Housing Plan In The Works In Wilmette

WILMETTE, IL — Village officials began the process of developing a new affordable housing plan to be in accordance with state housing regulations at Tuesday's Board meeting.

The Village of Wilmette first created an affordable housing plan in 2005 to abide by the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act passed in Illinois in 2003, which requires all municipalities with a population of at least 1,000 to have 10 percent of housing units be affordable.

In December 2023, The Illinois Housing Development Authority notified Wilmette that the village was not compliant with the Act. The village was given 18 months to file a new affordable housing plan, the deadline being June 14, 2025.

According to the 2023 analysis, 501 units out of 10,331 were considered affordable as defined by the act, which represents just 4.8 percent of the village housing stock. To get to the required 10 percent, an addition 532 affordable units would need to be added.

In order to file a new plan, the village must consider opportunities to include affordable housing in existing buildings or development of new buildings with affordable units.

"There's just not a lot of property available for redevelopment that can include affordable housing. It's a highly desirable community, and so there's a lot of demand already for all kinds of housing and all kinds of property. And there's a shortage, you could say, of larger properties where you could have multifamily or mixed use development that could include affordable housing," said Deputy Director of Community Development, Lisa Roberts.

There will be a public hearing at the June 10 Village Board meeting, where the community will have the opportunity to give input of future developments.