News Roundup: 250 SF Tiny Houses in Sacramento Cost More Than a Luxury Home; Chicago Affordable Housing Program Fails

Here are some of the latest items from Up for Growth, an organization supporting affordable housing development. 

Chicago has determined its ordinance requiring developers build more housing for low- and moderate-income households created just 1,000 homes in 13 years as the city's affordable housing shortfall surged to nearly 120,000 homes. That ordinance, similar to Portland's Inclusionary Housing or Inclusionary Zoning regulations, requires developers to designate between 10-20% of new residential units as affordable. A task force is now recommending changing the definition of "affordable." Read more.

In Sacramento last year, officials announced a makeover for the Capital Park Hotel, a century-old building that would bring life to a dilapidated asset with newly renovated rooms for the homeless. The pricetag to redevelop the hotel is more than $445,000 per unit for 250 SF apartments--the same as the median home value for homes of more than 1,600 SF. While Gov. Gavin Newsome decried the cost as "insanity," nonprofits have shrugged it off as "just the reality." Read more in the Sacramento Bee. 

HFO frequently covers the issue of Affordable Housing. See more.