WHY SOME PAY MORE THAN OTHERS

I started writing a blog about how, for the second time in two years, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is giving away thousands of dollars ($1 million total) to induce homebuyers to purchase homes and condos in its mixed-income community developments.  Unfortunately, I became distracted by two “shiny objects” that stood in the way of the original story.

My first distraction happened when I went to the CHA web site to try to learn more about mixed-income housing.  I was not sure I agreed with the CHA’S “Plan for Transformation.”  The housing developments are structured so that one third of the structures are reserved for CHA leaseholders, another third is affordably priced, and the final third is sold at market rate.  Why would I want to live in a community where other people paid LESS money for the same home I had?  I know I would feel resentful.  I pulled up a description of the background of the program on one of the housing choices web pages  and that is where the first “shiny object” reared its ugly head and I just had to stop.

“Background

Cabrini Extension North includes approximately 18 acres of land on the city’s Near North Side. In 1994, CHA was awarded a $50 million HOPE VI Grant to facilitate the redevelopment of the Cabrini Extension North site. In 1996, the City of Chicago created the Near North Redevelopment Initiative (“NNRI”) that served as a general guide for the redevelopment activities. The Near North redevelopment area is bounded by Halsted Street to the west, North Avenue to the north, Orleans Street to the east, and Chicago Avenue to the south. The 1997 HOPE VI Revitalization Plan and the NNRI called for the construction of 2,000 to 3,000 new housing units, a new police station, two new schools, expansion/improvements of existing parks, a new public library, a new shopping center, and improvements to infrastructure. Of the total number of housing units, 700 units will be built for CHA leaseholders in good-stnading on land throughout the Near North area. CHA began acquiring units in 2002 at off-site properties and began the construction of Parkside of Old Town in 2006 on CHA land, which will be completed over several phases. “

I highlighted the spelling mistake in the paragraph so you would not miss it.  I went to other pages on the website, and they all had the exact same background paragraph.  It enraged me that nobody had seen that mistake and it had been on the site for years!

I then decided to check to see who the press secretary for the CA was so I could ask them about the typo. That is when I found the second shiny object that distracted me from the original story.

That is when I discovered that the CHA has a PR firm, Marilyn Katz Communications which had been getting paid $500,000 a year to promote mixed income housing.  The contract was downsized to $250,000/year for 2011.

Mary Mitchell, columnist at the Sun-Times wrote a story on June 10th

of this year about mixed income housing, and how she had visited some sites last year.  She wrote that she did not understand why Marilyn Katz was at the meeting.

Mitchell wrote, “I didn’t know at the time that Katz was on the CHA’s payroll. In 2010, she had a $500,000 contract with the CHA for communications consulting work. That contract was renewed in 2011 but was renegotiated downward to $250,000, according to a CHA spokeswoman. She was mainly working with O’Connell-Miller on the ‘Find Your Place Campaign’ to help sell units in mixed-income developments, O’Connell-Miller told me on Friday.

Katz is a high-powered professional and I mean no disrespect to her or to her firm. But again, how can CHA officials justify spending that kind of money on a PR campaign to attract high-end buyers when the agency exists to provide housing for poor people?”

I could not say it better than Mitchell did.  How could the CHA justifying spending that kind of money on public relations for a campaign that involved housing for poor people?

These two “shiny objects” sapped all my strength.  So maybe one of readers of this blog can answer the question, “Why would a home buyer want to pay more for their home than others in the same development?”  I just don’t get it.