Chicago City Council shelves voting on affordable housing ordinance

Chicago City Council shelves voting on affordable housing ordinance

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A proposed ordinance to designate more affordable housing won’t happen before the Feb. 22 Chicago municipal election.

For months, Ald. Walter Burnett has sought a vote on the Sweet Home Chicago ordinance, which would designate 20 percent of tax increment finance dollars, or TIFs, toward affordable housing and rehabbing foreclosed properties. At the city council meeting on Wednesday, there was a vote - but not on the actual ordinance. In a 28-19 vote, the council decided to delay the vote until next month.

“They got another move on me,” Burnett said of Mayor Richard Daley’s administration, which has been pushing its own version of the ordinance that asks for less affordable housing.

“It’s not over though,” Burnett said. “We’re going to keep fighting. We’re not going to give up. We can’t give up when there are more and more people going into foreclosure every day. We gotta keep fighting for the people.”

City council members are up for re-election later this month. Burnett said he thought some of his colleagues were avoiding a vote until after the election.

Hundreds of Sweet Home Chicago supporters showed up at city hall, chanting “shame on you” to the city council.