Affordable Housing

Expanding affordable housing options is one of the five City Council goals for 2019–2020.

The City's Affordable Housing Steering Committee is engaging residents and community members in a dialogue about local housing needs and ideas on how to address them through individual interviews, small group discussions, and community events.

Whether you are a renter, a homeowner, a long time resident, or recently arrived in our community, we want to hear from you! 

Affordable Housing Resources 2023

2021 Affordable Housing Updates >

The Housing & Grants staff presented a report on 2020 progress and 2021 outlook at a special City Council on January 19, 2021. Learn about the progress made and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in the 2021 housing affordability report.

Housing Finance Workshop Panel Presentation

The City of Evanston put together a panel of housing experts to provide a public presentation on housing finance and development on May 30, 2018. The panelists discussed the opportunities and challenges with developing multifamily rental and inclusionary housing. The PowerPoint presentation, event flyer and video can be accessed below.

• Housing Finance Workshop PowerPoint Presentation
• Housing Finance Workshop Panel Presentation Flyer
• Housing Finance Workshop Panel Video

Join the conversation >

Add your voice to shape Evanston's action to provide more housing options, affordability, and to address other housing related challenges. Find out about community meetings and discussions.

A few Evanston Housing facts

1 in 2 Evanston Households earns less than $75,000 a year.

Sources: 2012-2016 CHAS data, 2018-2019 data from M.L.S, 2019 I.H.D.A. data, 2018 U.S. Department of Labor Statistics- Chicago Metro Area.

Evanston recognizes and acknowledges that policies and practices, including redlining, have resulted in discrimination and racial injustice.

Finding innovative ways to address these and other issues through housing policies is one of the goals of the AHP Steering Committee. Incorporating a wide range of housing for all income levels throughout ALL neighborhoods of Evanston, is one possible way to make our community more inclusive, and less economically and racially segregated.

The current housing supply does not match the demand. This is what has recently been coined the "missing middle housing".

Few of the more affordable types of housing that used to be common in Evanston, such as modest bungalows, duplexes/triplexes, row houses, have not been developed in the last several decades, due in part to the increase in house size, and to zoning that often allows only single family homes on relatively large lots, resulting in higher cost per unit.

The reduction in household sizes have also expanded the need for smaller, less costly housing.

The Affordable Housing Plan Steering Committee invites you to be part of the solution! Please explore the following pages and gives us your input below.