Immigrant Glen Ellyn Residents Face Threat of Displacement

Residents of Glen Ellyn’s Parkside Apartments have been out in force this week in opposition to the danger that a proposed new tax-increment financing (TIF) district in the Village downtown, ostensibly to encourage business development, could result in their having to leave their homes.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Parkside residents—a large portion of whom are low-income immigrants and/or refugees placed in Parkside by the organization World Relief—fear that if the current plan including Parkside in the district goes forward, they could lose their apartments to either rising rents or outright demolition.

"You talk about investing … you should be investing in these kids," the paper quoted Hadley Junior High teacher Mayra Kulik telling Village staff at an overflowing Monday meeting about the TIF district. "They have already been displaced. Please don't displace them again."

"I love Parkside, and I don't want it to be taken down," the Daily Herald quoted 10-year-old Liberian refugee Jessica Gbor telling staff. "If you take Parkside down, will you give us a home?"

A TIF district, according to the Suburban Life, would freeze the amount of property tax paid to local governments for 23 years and redirect all increased property revenue into a fund for renovating the area, either by improving existing infrastructure or incentivizing new development. 

Either one might threaten Parkside residents’ stability. If the buildings are improved, rents may rise out of low-income housing; if developers envision a different use for the land, Parkside might be torn down. 

And, as resident David Vosburg told the Tribune, “there just isn't a lot of affordable housing for these people.”

But Village staff said that the TIF district actually provides additional protections to residents, forcing any developers interested in razing the buildings to give 90 days of notice and provide residents with significant reimbursements and moving expenses, the Herald reports. 

Village manager Mark Franz told the paper that the apartments were being included in the TIF district because they really need the improvements.

"I think folks are assuming (displacement) is the first plan of the TIF district,” the Herald quoted him saying. “Maybe it's the 10th plan of the TIF district. Everything's on the table.

"There is nothing firmed up on any of these sites… There's been no talks with any developers. The village is not pursuing or pushing any projects on any of these three sites."

Read more at the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald and the Suburban Life websites.