Aurora, Illinois: Low- and Moderate-Income Housing in the Suburbs

Abstract

This article will examine the history and content of a 15 per cent low- and moderateincome housing set-aside ordinance pending in Aurora, Illinois. A city of 80,000, Aurora is located approximately 30 miles southwest of Chicago and for most of its history has been the anchor for the economically important Fox River Valley. In recent years, however, Aurora's once relatively self-contained economy has fallen on hard times. Its down-town business area is fading, unable to compete with newer commercial centers on its fringe, and its Central East Side neighborhood is suffering from blight and resegregation. This area was the city's first PUD, developed from a nineteenth century land claim proposing a mix of uses including business, housing, parks, churches, and a cemetery. Now, ironically, it is the new PUDs on Aurora's periphery that are the major impediment to its revitalization.