Committee on Budget and Government Operations: Chicago Recovery Plan Subcommittee

Chicago City Council

Housing

Finance

Politics

Arts

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022
10:00 a.m. CST

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This is a remote assignment to document a hearing on the Chicago Recovery Plan. To access, go to https://livestream.com/accounts/28669066.

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Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team

Note-taking by Collin Hazlett

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, Chicago Recovery Plan, Affordable housing, Arts and Culture

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Live reporting by Amy Qin

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, Chicago Recovery Plan, Affordable housing, Arts and Culture

Amy Qin @amyqin12

Good morning ☀️ I'll be live-tweeting City Council's Committee on Budget and Gov't Operations and Subcommittee meeting on the Chicago Recovery Plan, starting at 10 a.m. for @CHIdocumenters #CHIdocumenters. It'll be live-streamed here: livestream.com/accounts/28669…

09:37 AM Feb 9, 2022 CST

Amy Qin @amyqin12 2/38

Some additional context about the subcommittee today from @jus10chi this morning: twitter.com/jus10chi/statu…

Amy Qin @amyqin12 3/38

@jus10chi Meeting starting now! Right here: livestream.com/accounts/28669…

Amy Qin @amyqin12 4/38

Ald. Dowell begins the roll call for the subcommittee. Not present are Thompson, Ervin and Smith. Taliaferro and Sposato aren't on the committee but Dowell is allowing them to participate.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 5/38

Gregory Sherman is the first public speaker. He pleaded the subcommittee to fund violence prevention, adding they need to do due diligence on where funds go.

"I spoke to many of you in private and many of you admitted you didn't know where the first round of R3 money went."

Amy Qin @amyqin12 6/38

Mr. Gomez is the next speaker, he's the owner of Subterranean and Beat Kitchen in Wicker Park. Many venues and individual artists didn't qualify for relief funding, he said. Gomez was cut off for going over 3 minutes.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 7/38

This is a subject matter hearing for the Chicago Recovery Plan, no votes will be taken, explains Vice Chairman Martin. Each of the next six hearings will deal with 2 topics. Today's topics are affordable housing and arts & culture.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 8/38

Ald. David Moore asks how much money they're talking about. $1.9 billion dollars that they'll have approx. 5 years to spend over a total of 13 topic areas, said Martin.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 9/38

First up is affordable housing. Geoff Smith from the DePaul Institute for Housing Studies is the first speaker.

Chicago's housing affordability problems are due to a decrease in aff. rental housing stock, he says. Here's where the greatest loss of aff. housing has occurred: https://t.co/hdBu5QcNt2

Amy Qin @amyqin12 10/38

These trends point to a need for stabilization initiatives to preserve the 2 to 4 unit properties which are the backbone of most affordable housing rental stock, Smith said. https://t.co/Iu4I9DtlpP

Amy Qin @amyqin12 11/38

here's his slide on homeownership: https://t.co/qFVavhzGow

Amy Qin @amyqin12 12/38

Next up is Richard Townsell, of Lawndale Christian Dev. Corp.

Their goal is to build 1k houses on the West and South side as part of their Reclaiming Chicago Campaign. They're requesting the city" increase the money going into homebuyer subsidies ($10m) and site prep ($5.3m)"

Amy Qin @amyqin12 13/38

Ald. Moore asked 2 questions "Is the summary basically that affordable isn't on the north side and it's all on the south side?" and for Townsell, "Is he asking for funds? Or is he getting some of that money already?"

Martin defers the 1st to the Q&A and 2nd to the next speaker

Amy Qin @amyqin12 14/38

Next is Kristin Horne, from the Here to Stay Community Land Trust and Logan Sq. Community Neighborhood Assoc. whose housing model preserves affordable housing for families in response to displacement in the neighborhood.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 15/38

Horne's organization is 1) requesting downpayment assistance program 2) subsidies to further reduce sales price.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 16/38

Shifting to Arts & Culture now. Carlos Tortolero, pres & founder of the National Museum of Mexican Art is up. He urges the city to direct more arts funding to communities of color and emphasizes the importance of the arts for Chicago.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 17/38

Joe Burton, founder & ED of Bughouse Theater who suggests 4 ways to support small/individual artists:
1. Support entrepreneurship for artists
2. Keep small arts orgs in their spaces
3. Connect w/ philanthropy
4. Promote storefront theaters & small venues

Amy Qin @amyqin12 18/38

Andre and Francis Guichard, of Gallery Guichard and co-creators of Bronzeville Arts District. Federal $$ are so important to staying connected through art virtually and in person during the pandemic and to jumpstart the Bronzeville economic cultural system, he said. https://t.co/yuD5vwppVx

Amy Qin @amyqin12 19/38

Budget Dir. Susie Park, from the Office of Budget & Management starts with an overview of the ARPA (American Rescue Plan), of which Chicago has $1.9b. https://t.co/FSF856Rch6

Amy Qin @amyqin12 20/38

More info on the recovery plan, where expenditures, outcomes, etc. will be reported on a quarterly basis is here: chicago.gov/city/en/sites/…

Amy Qin @amyqin12 21/38

A total of $1.2b (combining ARPA and bond $$) will be invested in the following topics: https://t.co/PNHAlJcEDb

Amy Qin @amyqin12 22/38

This subcommittee will meet roughly every 2 months https://t.co/h2dJtBk17H

Amy Qin @amyqin12 23/38

Dept. of Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara is presenting now. Here's her overview of how the dept. will use $190m of recovery dollars: https://t.co/KxpSoc8HG2

Amy Qin @amyqin12 24/38

"We're credit rich, cash poor" so in previous years, they had to leave thousands of $$ on the table b/c they didn't have enough cash. Recovery plan $$ will allow the dept. to leverage their 4% LIHTCs.

Last year, Novara said, they were able to 2x the # of investments.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 25/38

Acquisition Rehab Program has been limited to where they had TIFs/CDBG income eligibility restrictions. Recovery dollars aren't, Novara said. They'll help local developers gain access to credit but they're still in early stages

fyi, an issue with showing the slides right now...

Amy Qin @amyqin12 26/38

DCASE by acting commissioner Erin Harkey presentation is next. She said there was a 371% increase in unemployment insurance filings for artists during the pandemic.

Harkey said there is an individual artist grant at the state level but not the federal level: https://t.co/UVzfs7U5bf

Amy Qin @amyqin12 27/38

Harkey is providing an overview of the grants given in 2021, like the Arts 77 Grant Programs. With recovery money, DCASE will increase their cultural grants budget from $2.7m to now $20.7m over the next two years.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 28/38

"We need to do a much better job of going to where folks are at," said Harkey in response to feedback that people weren't aware of the grants in some communities and barriers to the application process.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 29/38

🚨 There are opportunities open now 🚨 CityArts applications for arts orgs/nonprofits (up to 2 year grants) are open: https://t.co/dVwjDdE2We

Amy Qin @amyqin12 30/38

Q&A now, starting with subcommittee member questions.

Osterman is up to first w/ comments: "we passed this budget in collaboration and implementation needs to be done in cooperation."

Amy Qin @amyqin12 31/38

LaSpata: "$35m that we're putting toward permanent supportive housing - do we have shovel ready projects for this? what does the process look like for getting these dollars out the door?"

Amy Qin @amyqin12 32/38

Novara: a couple prongs: through matching funding for existing developments ;working on an RFP for late-summer that would specifically be targeted for PSH

Amy Qin @amyqin12 33/38

$50m of the dollar amount that was provided to affordable housing has been obligated through last year's multi-unit family housing RFP, according to Novara in response to Moore's question about how much of the total has been allocated/obligated.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 34/38

Sigcho-Lopez asks, how does this budget help increase affordable housing supply for the lowest income of the low-income residents? Novara: asking devs to income average their units, 5/25 devs are with CHA

Amy Qin @amyqin12 35/38

Sigcho-Lopez asks about SRO's which he described as a "missed opportunity" from the budget. Bryan Eisenberg says they're thinking of introducing an ordinance in March to help refinance the 70 existing SROs.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 36/38

Dowell is asking about how rental assistance is going. The city has received $182m federal dollars, the bulk of which is going to tenants/landlords. Of that, $122m has been allocated to date, said Novara.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 37/38

"What kind of coordination do we have with CPS for arts programming?" - Sigcho Lopez. Harkey says she meets semi-regularly with CPS. Although DCASE historically hasn't had a focus on arts education in their portfolio she's hopeful with ARPA funds it'll be more of a focus.

Amy Qin @amyqin12 38/38

And with that, Q&A has wrapped up. Meeting adjourned at 12:22 p.m. The next Committee on Budget & Government Operations meeting will be Feb. 16, but the next Chicago Recovery Plan Subcommittee won't meet until Apr. 6.

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By India Daniels 2/9/2022

Agency Information

Chicago City Council

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@ChiCouncil

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