By Janya Herrera and Olivia Schaller
@redlineproject
North Lawndale on the West Side is undergoing gentrification, but the city claims it has a solution.
The project, Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative, is being adopted in multiple locations in the North Lawndale neighborhood. This project’s goal is to build homes on empty city-owned lots in the neighborhood and will price these homes at 140% of the area median income.
The project will also use up to $150,000 of taxpayer funds for each unit built. This initiative is the city’s way of trying to target North Lawndale residents and make these homes more affordable, keeping longtime residents in rather than pushing them out.
To break down the 140% AMI rule, these homes will be priced based on the area median income of North Lawndale residents multiplied by 140%. According to 2023 Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning data, the most recent data available, the area median income of North Lawndale is $37,247.
Multiply that area median income by 140% to get $52,145.80, the approximate yearly income an individual would need in order to qualify for these new homes. This leaves a $15,000 annual income gap for the average North Lawndale residents from being able to afford these new homes that are supposed to be built for them.
The 140% AMI rate for the new homes can be good for citywide prices in terms of the general Chicagoan, which averages $77,902 in yearly income, according to United States Census Bureau 2024 data. But for the North Lawndale residents, with an approximate $37,000 median income, still can’t afford the $52,000 yearly income needed to make in order to afford these new homes with the 140% AMI rate.
According to Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning 2023 data, North Lawndale has a population of 31,244, with African American individuals making up 76.2% of that population and Hispanics making second with 16%. From 2000 to 2023, the total population of North Lawndale has dropped 25.2%. But homes built in 2020 to 2025 are up 80% for year-over-year change, according to Point2Homes data.
This gap brings up bigger issues, like what’s stopping these homes from being bought out by wealthier individuals who can rent out these homes for a much higher price, higher than the average North Lawndale resident can afford? Is this really stopping gentrification or just slowing it down? And is this a good use of Chicago’s taxpayers’ money?
Jenny Leon, a resident of North Lawndale since 2003, said that there isn’t any room for her to buy a home in the neighborhood because of the cost. She mentioned the new restaurants and other businesses that are setting higher price standards for the whole neighborhood.
“The Soul Food Lounge and The Loyalist, the new places charge like crazy prices, making us go out of our way, away from here, to find lower-priced things,” Leon said. “Then those who can afford these crazy things start coming here until they replace us because they are the only ones who can afford it.”
Leon said the Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative and the 140% AMI rate is a “joke.”
“Who here can afford a new home?” she said. “Let alone one that I can’t afford. I see it as a cover to make it seem like the city cares about what happens, but they know just as much as we do that this is not the solution.
“We are being exterminated with our own money.”
One of the newly developed units at 3300 W. Douglas Blvd., shown
in the later stages of construction. (Photo/Olivia Schaller)
Angela Camacho, a Chicago native who lives on the Southwest Side, said that she isn’t a fan of taxpayer funds contributing to this project.
“Yeah, that’s complete bullshit.” Camacho said. “They always use our money for whatever it is they use it for, things that we can’t use or see or things that don’t make sense and I’m sick of it, it needs to stop.”
Camacho’s suggestion: “Kick everyone out of office or make some kind of punishment for stuff like this so people in office can’t continue this kind of stuff.”
Project managers are working hard to get to the root of the problem in North Lawndale. Creating affordable living also means fostering affordable businesses and community outreach.
Chicago Community Desk is one of those centers working to provide for communities threatened by gentrification and rising prices. The organization works toward economic prosperity in neighborhoods across Chicago, such as Inglewood and Bronzeville, by building up businesses and supporting local organizations.
Many other organizations are supporting the gradual affordability of North Lawndale, like the Lawndale Christian Developement Corporation. The LCDC is pushing for resource centers built in the middle of North Lawndale to push toward a brighter future for struggling residents. This would also offer opportunities for residents of North Lawndale to apply for housing that is affordable and works along the empty lots as mentioned.
Miranda Sanders, a project manager at Chicago Community Desk, emphasized the importance of community investment in preventing gentrification.
“I think that North Lawndale currently is doing a really good job of that, “she said. “Implementing those tactics because of groups like the one that I talked to you about before LCDC.”
She gave hope to the situation with positive feedback and reassurance to keep going.
“I think that each community within Chicago is trying its best to keep people who have been there for generations there, so I think that they should continue doing what they’re doing,” Sanders said.