The Chicago area’s working families are searching longer and harder than ever for homes they can afford in communities with good jobs and good schools.  To reverse this alarming trend, the State of Illinois has developed a comprehensive housing policy that rewards innovations that bridge the jobs-housing gap, such as employer-assisted housing.  But can a state with a well-known appetite for local government and home rule - and some 270-plus municipalities in the six-country area alone - coordinate on-the-ground solutions to housing and economic development challenges at a regional level?  Model partnerships between local towns and employers in Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs are not only showing it can be done, but also helping more people live near work. 

Panelists include: DeShana Forney, Executive Director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority and Chair of the Governor’s Housing Task Force; Mayor Rita Mullins, Village of Palatine and Co-Chair of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Housing Committee; Mayor Michael Belsky, City of Highland Park; and Arthur J. Sullivan, Program Manager for A Regional Housing Coalition (ARCH) in Seattle, WA.  Moderated by Stephen Porras, Vice President of Acquisitions and Affordable Housing for Related Midwest and a member of MPC Board of Governors.

Recorded Friday, August 24, 2007 at Charter One Bank.