The Housing and Community Development Committee reviewed its draft 2026 action plan at the committee’s Tuesday night meeting.
As part of Evanston’s 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan, the action plan outlines how the committee will allocate around $2 million in funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program and HOME Investment Partnerships Program grant in 2026.
The proposed 2026 plan would cut around $100,000 from 2025 spending on the plan’s livable community goal, which consists of managing public facilities and services. Around $125,000 of funds would go toward housing rehabilitation and housing code enforcement for the action plan’s affordable housing goal in the new year. A quarter of a million dollars in grant funds allocated to public services would be used to address challenges with housing and homelessness.
Housing and Grants Supervisor Marion Johnson explained the possibility of diverting public services funds to expand rental assistance programs. While the city has a Tenant-Based Rental Program, which ensures families only pay up to 60% of the area’s average median income toward rent, Johnson explained that HUD limits how the program’s funds can be used.
“The availability of rental housing that is available for families that are at that income level is pretty limited,” Johnson said. “It can be challenging to find large enough units.”
Evanston resident and landlord Tina Paden said that the city continues to lack accessible housing for families because the city does not support landlords in taking care of their properties.
Paden said that she is one of few landlords with units that can accommodate families who still accept subsidy vouchers from programs like TBRA.
“I’ve continued to come here and say, ‘Help me, so I can help you.’ They don’t,” Paden said.
Though Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) acknowledged the comments, he asked residents not to overlook the city’s current efforts towards affordable housing.
“We can always do more, but let’s not ignore the investments that are going to affordable housing,” Burns said.
Other public comments expressed concerns about the city’s recent decision on affordable housing development, including the city’s Strategic Housing Plan, which the HCDC reviewed at the Nov. 6 meeting. One public commenter criticized the 605 Davis St. building, which passed at City Council’s Nov. 10 meeting in a narrow vote, for its lack of affordable housing for elderly residents and families. Twenty percent of the units in the 29-story development will be considered affordable housing under the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
HCDC will vote to approve the action plan during its next meeting on Dec. 17.
During public comment at the Tuesday meeting, community activist Meleika Gardner and SESP freshman Amaad Garrett expressed support for the city’s proposed Property Tax Circuit Breaker Program.
The program aims to subsidize property taxes for homeowners, especially longtime and elderly residents, through the NU Good Neighbor Affordable Housing Fund.
Gardner said she and Garrett worked with Ald. Clare Kelly (1st) as well as Cook County officials, housing experts and residents for a year to create the program. Councilmembers discussed the policy at City Council’s Nov. 10 meeting and voted to send the policy to the HCDC for further consideration.
“Although confident of the benefit the proposal will provide in the nature it is currently in, I welcome constructive critiques that can strengthen its impact,” Garrett said.
Three other residents also spoke during public comment to express their support for approving the program right away to ensure residents are not displaced in the coming years.
At the end of public comments, the committee confirmed that the Property Tax Circuit Breaker Program will be added as a discussion item to the agenda of its Jan. 20 meeting.
“We’re gonna make sure that this moves because the people need it,” Gardner told The Daily after the meeting. “If you do not have generational wealth, it is not ‘if’ property taxes will overwhelm your household. It’s ‘when.’”
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Related Stories:
— HCDC leans toward limiting short-term rentals, provides further draft Housing4All plan feedback
— 605 Davis proposal advances after lengthy City Council debate over community benefits
— City Council cuts proposed property tax hike, revisits property tax rent relief ‘circuit breaker’
