Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps got an earful from Austin residents who came to a meeting to discuss their concerns about housing and to find out what she can do to help.
Stamps (D-1st) listened to about 25 residents and homeowners who assembled June 8 at Northwest Austin Council office, 5730 W. Division St. While she made no promises of solutions, she did promise to follow up with other relevant agencies.
Communities United, a social justice advocacy organization based in the Hermosa neighborhood, convened the meeting to give Austin homeowners and renters a chance to air their concerns. It invited Austin area elected officials to attend, but only Stamps, who lives in Austin, showed up. She arrived an hour into the evening meeting, something she blamed on a scheduling conflict with her day job at the Chicago Teachers Union.
Residents lamented rising property taxes and complained that they haven’t seen any improvements in service to show for it. They also complained about rising rents they struggled to afford, and county-owned lots. Stamps said that she would be willing to convene meetings that will include officials from the Cook County Land Bank Authority, Office of Cook County Assessor and other agencies that might be able to address their concerns directly.
Communities United describes itself as a “survivor-led, intergenerational racial justice organization” that “[develops] grassroots leadership to build collective power to achieve racial justice and transformative social change.”
According to organizer Fabian Cisneros, they have been working in Austin for the past seven years. He said that they mostly worked in Austin schools, such as Michele Clark Magnet High School, but around 1 ½ years ago, they decided to expand their efforts to the broader community.
Organizer Roxanne Smith said that the meeting was a culmination of months of “knocking on doors, speaking with residents about their housing concerns.” She also mentioned that they reached out to local schools. She said that they found as many as 900 students are homeless – not necessarily in the sense that they don’t have any roof over the heard, but in the sense that they temporarily stay with friends or family members and don’t have a place to truly call their own.
“Tonight is the opportunity for neighbors to share their lived experiences,” Smith said.
Speaking through a translator, Maria Alvarez said that she and her husband were able to buy a home in Austin about two years ago. They were raising young children who simply didn’t have a space to play without disturbing their neighbors.
“During the first year of home ownership, we felt relief,” Alvarez said. “We felt proud because we were paying for something that belonged to us. The taxes were affordable and, for the first time, we felt stability.”
But since then, their property taxes almost doubled, and utility costs went up.
“We ask ourselves, where is [the property tax] money going?” Alvarez said. “Are they fixing Austin’s flood problems, improving our parks, fixing our streets or making the neighborhood safer? And I have more questions, like you, for the public officials, but, as you can see, they are not here.”
Maurice Todd said that as a single father he struggled to find an apartment with enough space for himself and his child that he could afford. He said that, as someone who mostly worked gigs that didn’t provide steady income, he struggled to show proof of stable income landlords wanted, let alone proof that he could make at least three times the rent on regular basis.
While there were periods where Todd could stay with the family, “due to some conflicts at home” he ended up homeless for 10 months. Getting a steady job at Chicago Public Schools created new problems – at $20 an hour, he was earning more than the maximum required to qualify for Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so he had to spend more money on food and healthcare, and had less money available for rent.
“Affordable housing isn’t about just having a roof over your head – it’s about stability,” Todd said. “It creates an opportunity for families like mine to move from surviving to thriving.”
Cook County Land Bank Authority is a county agency that buys vacant properties and lots, tries to wipe out whatever debt may be attached to the property and sell it back to developers that would be willing to put it into productive use. CCLBA is governed by a 17-member board appointed by the Cook County Board President and confirmed by board commissioners, but commissioners don’t have much say over the organization’s day-to-day operations.
Todd was one of the several residents who complained that CCLBA-owned lots seem to sit empty,
After Stamps was first appointed to the county board in 2023 to fill the vacancy created when Brandon Johnson was elected mayor, she kept her job as CTU’s administrator of New Teacher Development, and she continued to stay on after winning the 2024 election. She told the residents that she was late because she had to wrap up some virtual meetings connected to that job.
Stamps also said that she wasn’t notified about the meeting until earlier that day, something Smith denied. Still, she apologized for not making it earlier, adding that she makes every effort to be responsive and available.
“I show up, and I continue to show up,” Stamps said. “I have a very strong track record of being available to my constituents, my neighbors. “
Responding to the CCLBA question, she said that there have been several developments on authority-owned land in Austin and West Humboldt Park. But she suggested that it would be helpful to set up a meeting where residents could hear from land bank officials directly.
When asked about property taxes, Stamps noted that the county’s share of the property is relatively small compared to Chicago Public Schools and the City of Chicago. According to the Civic Federation analysis, as of 2023, CPS accounted for a little less than half of the tax bill, while the City of Chicago accounted for a little over 24% and the County’s share accounted for 10.3%.
“The county has not raised property taxes in 30 years,” Stamps added
Still, Stamps added that she recognized that the increasing property tax burden was a serious problem, and pointed to her record of holding workshops for residents to help them apply for exemptions and, in case of seniors, the “senior freeze.”
When asked about affordable housing, Stamps acknowledged that it was another important concern. But she also pointed out that the City of Chicago uses the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definition of affordable rents, which is based on the average income in the entire six-county region rather than Austin specifically. This has historically meant that, in some South and West Side communities, the “affordable” rents were higher than rents in market-rate apartments.
“You have to be careful when you use terms like affordable housing,” Stamps said. “Affordable to whom?”
