Chicago Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th Ward) gives his support to the building of six “affordable” homes in the city’s West Town neighborhood. “I promised that I was going to pursue the dream of bring about economic diversity to that area,” Maldonado said Thursday before the Chicago Plan Commission.. (Kevin Beese/for Chronicle Media)

Six “affordable” homes are slated to be built in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood despite some residents’ objections to the plan.

The homes, which will each be sold for $247,000, will be built at 2327-41 W. Erie. The homes will be built on six city-owned lots, which are being sold to the developer, John Buck Co., for $6.

The deal is not sitting well with some West Town residents.

“Consider (this) plan that takes $3 million worth of land and sells it for $1 (each). Think about the logic behind that,” said Julie Sawicki, a real estate broker for 13 years and a neighbor of the proposed development. “How much farther can $3 million go? How many more families can $3 million help with affordable housing?”

She said the homes should be built and sold at market value. She noted that there are six homes adjacent to the Buck development that were built in 2006. In 2015, those homes paid $149,000 in tax revenue.

“Think about the future tax revenue we are giving up from selling $3 million worth of land,” she said.

Sawicki said the additional funds generated by selling the homes at market value could be used to help fight the violence plaguing the city.

“We have a lot of neighborhoods in this city where people require housing,” Sawicki said. “We have  children dying in our streets by bullets, children who prefer to live elsewhere.”

Despite objections from some West Town residents, members of the Chicago Plan Commission gave the proposed development a thumb’s up at their meeting Thursday (June 15).

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26^th Ward) said he made it clear in his campaign for re-election in 2015 that he was working for affordable housing. He saw his being put back in office as “a referendum” in favor of affordable housing in the ward.

“We started working in 2014 to provide and implement good public policy for this in this high-priced area,” Maldonado said. “What this public policy does is bring about economic diversity in an area that used to be a bungalow neighborhood.”

He said the six-buck homes will allow “truly middle-class families” to enter a $1 million neighborhood.

“I promised that I was going to pursue that dream of bringing about economic diversity to that area,” Maldonado said of pushing affordable housing in West Town as part of his re-election bid.

“The true middle-class families of our city deserve that. We have to stop and better use our public funds to bring about economic diversity.”

He agreed with Sawicki that more needs to be to get youths away from gun violence. To that end, the alderman said, by having affordable housing in better neighborhoods, youths can leave violence-plagued areas.

“This program allows for everyone making $94,000 a year to buy a home in this area,” Maldonado said.

James Daley, a resident of the area, said that residents really do not have a good sense of what type of homes are going to be constructed and wanted the commission to postpone its vote to give residents time to learn more about the project and just what quality the planned homes will be.

“Citizens and neighbors were just concerned about what is going in there,” Daley said. “We’ve been trying to get this information for quite awhile.”

Ald. Walter Burnett (27^th Ward) said when a single-room housing complex was built at Halsted and Lake streets in his ward, neighborhood residents were concerned much like the West Town residents are now.

“The SRO residents were going to rape kids, kill people, all kinds of crazy things,” Burnett said. “Nothing ever happened. Every day, people in the neighborhood have physical contact with the SRO residents They stay in the community. A lot of people do not even see the SRO resident. They are just there in the city.”

“It is our duty to make sure that all people have an opportunity to live in every neighborhood in the city,” Burnett added.

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— ‘Affordable’ homes planned in Chicago’s West Town —