Put Calumet City First with New Jobs, New Businesses, and More Safety
The Path to Growth:
Prioritize Housing in Calumet City
Prioritize Housing in Calumet City
The Path to Growth: Modernizing for New Businesses, New Jobs and Less Crime.
Calumet City residents want safer neighborhoods, more job opportunities, and thriving local businesses. Achieving these goals requires modernizing the city’s housing regulations. Streamlining home purchase inspections and updating the property transfer tax and stamp system are essential steps toward building a more prosperous community.
The Benefits of Modernization
By reducing the bureaucratic hurdles and excessive costs associated with home purchases and property ownership, Calumet City can:
- Decrease crime rates by filling vacant properties and strengthening community ties.
- Encourage investment in new businesses to boost our local economy.
- Create new jobs and support economic development.
Calumet City’s Challenges
Rising home sale prices contrast with declining property valuations and historically high property taxes, placing a heavy burden on families. This environment hinders homeownership, complicates property transactions, and affects public safety, job growth, and business development.
- Complicated property transactions lead to stagnant or declining home values, limiting wealth-building opportunities for homeowners.
- Inefficient processes deter potential buyers, weaken the housing market, and hinder business growth.
- A nearly 40% drop in transfer stamp revenue signals economic challenges and diminished community confidence.
- The vacancy rate exceeds 13%, with empty homes undermining community investment. High vacancies often correlate with increased crime, affecting new and existing businesses.
Calumet City's Solutions
Calumet City Residents Want New Businesses and New Jobs
- 63% of residents rated “Bring New Business and New Jobs to Calumet City” a priority for the mayor. 55% rank it a High Priority.
- Prioritizing housing affordability has been shown to increase business attraction and economic development.1
- Every time a home is purchased in Illinois, it generates $87,100 in local economic impact2 and two jobs.3
Calumet City residents want reduced crime
- 63% of residents rated “Reducing Crime” as a priority for the mayor. 52% rank it a high priority.
- Prioritizing quality housing, both rehabbed and new construction, for seniors, families and college graduates creates safer neighborhoods and reduces crime.
Calumet City residents want new, quality, safe, and affordable housing
- Nearly 50% of residents think the mayor should prioritize “new, quality, safe, and affordable housing for Calumet City.”
- Nearly 30% of owner-occupied households in Calumet City are cost-burdened and over 50% of renter-occupied households are cost-burdened. This means more than 30 percent of the household’s income is spent on mortgage, rent or other housing needs.4
- Homeownership is a major factor in creating household and generational wealth.5
Calumet City’s Mayor and City Council Can Address Our Priorities by Prioritizing Housing!
- Encourage homeownership with down payment assistance, housing counseling and welcoming homebuilders into town.
- Turn vacant, abandoned homes into quality, safe, family homes.
- Review and improve bureaucratic red tape like the home seller tax stamp.
- Improve or eliminate government home inspections.
- Review and improve zoning to encourage new homes.