From today’s print edition:
New alderman to pay city for moving out early
State representative had bought house under affordable-housing
program, but moved out before 4-year minimum
By Hal Dardick, Tribune reporter
The state lawmaker Mayor Richard Daley picked to serve as 29th Ward
alderman agreed Wednesday to repay the city $5,000 for moving out of a
home too soon under the terms of an affordable-housing program.
State
Rep. Deborah Graham, D-Chicago, set up the repayment after the Tribune
raised questions about her use of the program, which helped her to net a
nearly $114,000 profit after just six years.
Graham bought the
three-bedroom Austin neighborhood house in mid-2000, just two months
before she started working for the city’s Community Development
Department, according to public records. The home’s modest $126,500
price was possible, in part, because the city sold the lot to a
nonprofit developer for $1.
Graham lived in the house until 2003,
when she discovered the house was just yards outside the legislative
district to which she had just been elected. So she moved to an
apartment inside the district and rented the house until she sold it for
$240,000 in 2006, according to public records.
The
affordable-housing program that subsidized the cost of the house’s land
required she live in the home for at least four years.
Graham said
she was unaware of that requirement until she was asked about it
Wednesday morning. Later in the day, she agreed to reimburse the city
for a portion of the subsidy, as required under the program when someone
moves out too soon.
"Had she known at the time (of the sale), she
would have paid it back then," said Molly Sullivan, spokeswoman for the
Community Development Department, which took over the program last year
under a reorganization of city bureaucracy.
"She’s in the process
of paying the city back," Sullivan said. "We expect it within the
week."
If approved by the full City Council, Graham will replace
Isaac Carothers, who resigned early last month after pleading guilty in
federal court to taking a bribe from a developer doing business in his
ward.
Daley for the first time accepted applications for a vacant
alderman’s seat via the Internet and received more than 20 valid
applications for the post. Graham is a Carothers protege from the 29th
Ward Democratic organization.
Graham also was recently approved as
the Democratic committeeman of the 29th Ward, which is considered one
of the better organized political operations that backs Daley.