Bloomington City Council addresses housing crisis concerns

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill (WMBD) — Steps forward were taken at Monday’s city council meeting regarding the housing crisis in Bloomington.

Bloomington’s city council met on Monday to discuss many topics, but housing was the main concern. During public comments, many community members voiced concerns about the Opticos Report, which people feared would mandate certain provisions that were not appealing to the neighborhoods.

“Whether that be dealing with more walkability, whether it be dealing with housing expansion division, or whether that’s parking. None of that report will be anything that will impede upon existing homeowners’ associations,” said Dan Brady, Mayor of the city of Bloomington.

Brady shared the council and himself acknowledged the report, and wants to make sure the community knows that this will not affect existing homeowner associations.

“That report won’t do anything except maybe be a blueprint for some areas of the city to look at. We’re not implementing anything automatically. In fact, nothing will occur from that report that would not come back to council first,” said Brady.

The report does have aspects that could work in some areas in Bloomington, but it is not a one-size-fits-all type of situation for housing. The council also realized that much of this issue is out of the city’s hands.

“The problem with that is something the city doesn’t control. That is, when developers, the builders, say If you want affordable housing, give us affordable building. That’s something that’s a little bit out of our control with the national economy, with the cost of materials, and when an investor wants to put in or not,” he said.

“All we can do is help from our economic development standpoint and from our community areas and agencies engage with those individuals to help them through the permitting process and try to streamline that process.”

The full city council meeting can be watched here.

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