The city of Chicago is renowned for many amazing things: its food, music, culture, and way of life. However, in recent years they have become more renowned for one ghastly problem: the affordable housing crisis.
Maxwell Drever believes having the ability to own an affordable house should be the right of every American citizen. However, the following are the challenges due to which Chicago is failing its citizens to provide them with affordable homes.
- Maxwell Drever Believes Gang Violence Costs Chicago Affordable Homes
The city of Chicago has a long-standing gang violence epidemic. This problem takes a lot of resources out of the city’s budget to combat and contain this problem. Maxwell Drever believes that if this problem didn’t exist, the local government would have been able to invest the money spent here in providing its residents with affordable homes. - Lack of Interest From Private Companies
The violence in Chicago has not only bound the government’s hand, but it has also swayed away private companies from investing in the city. In many successful cities of America where the government is failing to provide affordable homes, private companies are stepping up to take on this responsibility.
However, Chicago does not have this luxury because private companies, fearing their investment will be vandalized or damaged in the crossfire of gang wars, refuse to invest in the city. As a consequence of this, it is the general public who is suffering. - According to Maxwell Drever Lack of Purchasing Power = No Affordable Home
Another challenge, according to Maxwell Drever, that gets in the way of building affordable housing is the lack of purchasing power of the residents. The median income in Chicago has stayed the same at $34,000, whereas the home prices have gone up 36% in the past five years alone.
The ability for people to afford a home in Chicago is shrinking daily; this is the number one concern why every year, more and more people are unable to afford homes. The people of Chicago need affordable housing. Unfortunately, neither government nor private companies are helping them combat this problem. - Cities’ Difficult Land Zoning Laws
A huge challenge that Chicago cannot develop and provide its resident’s affordable housing is the city’s difficult land zoning laws. Many areas in Chicago cannot be built on either by local government or private companies because the state government has restricted them because of laws passed in the decades gone by.
Unless the state government takes a hard look at those laws and reverses them back, the city, even if they somehow manage financial resources to build affordable housing, cannot. - Cutting Corners From For-Profit Developers
Although, at the surface, Chicago doesn’t look completely abandoned as some companies are claiming to build for-profit affordable housing. However, the number of corners they cut, from the material they use to develop the project to the eventual price they sell them at, ensure Chicago doesn’t have affordable housing.
Final Word
Chicago is an illustrious city, yet due to various reasons it has fallen on hard times and is currently going through its worst affordable housing crisis. The challenges they are facing have been covered extensively by us.
Go through them and let us know which reason, according to you, is the one due to which Chicago is suffering from the worst affordable housing crisis in its history.