The housing shortage is on the minds of many in Bloomington, including the city council. During a meeting Monday, Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus presented an update on the issue.
Tyus discussed changes the council could make to incentivize developers to build in Bloomington. In a time of economic uncertainty, he emphasized the value of putting forth a clear “standardized incentives” plan. Knowing what help they can expect to receive in advance, Tyus said, would help dispel developers’ reluctance.
“The cost of building is higher than it’s perhaps ever been across the country,” Tyus said. “Knowing what’s coming can be very helpful.”
On top of being more predictable, new measures could act on a number of fronts. Incentives could include reducing city fees from 50 to 100%, tax benefits potentially including five years without property tax, and fast-tracking applications. Some of these theoretically give up revenue for the city, but Tyus had two answers for that.
First, fees bring in little money now, as a project has to come to the community for that. Tyus said they make up well under 1% of the city’s budget, and fees collected even fell by about a third from 2023 to 2024.
Second, Tyus expects lost fees to be made up for by increased spending in Bloomington, as more housing will let more of its workers live in town. Citing from the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, Tyus said Bloomington loses about $270 million in economic activity a year because so many of its workers commute from other towns.
“Some people just want to live somewhere else,” Tyus said. “But some people live elsewhere because they cannot find affordable housing here. They can’t find the quality of housing they want here either.”
The incentives look to target projects that produce at least 50 dwellings, with an emphasis on affordable housing, new subdivisions and multifamily housing. Qualifying projects would start before June 2028. The council discussed the presentation at length and were generally complementary of Tyus’ recommendations.
They hope to have a measure to consider in their next meeting.
Annual update from Bloomington Police
Also at Monday’s meeting, Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington presented an annual report on the department’s performance during 2024.
Of about 70,000 calls for service in 2024, police used force 186 times, and received 27 complaints. Both of those are down from the year before, a point of pride for Simington. He attributes the numbers to the department’s training, which Simington says surpasses all Illinois standards.
Some types of crime rose in 2024. Crime as a whole was up 1.5%, notably shootings (which includes incidents where a firearm was discharged without injury) were up 23%, and weapon violations were up 17%. Sexual offenses were also up 16%, with a similar increase for burglary. Significantly down were car thefts — a 27% decrease from the year before.
Illegal gun use was one theme of Simington’s report.
“There is a high demand for weapons being illegally possessed by members of our community. The average age for gun offenders this past year was 19 years old,” Simington said.
Simington said many juvenile gun offenses were closer to test firings than attempts to use guns in other crimes, but emphasized that illegal weapon seizures are still important.
“A gun is dangerous in the hands of the wrong person for any reason,” Simington said. “So it’s important to give the effort to identify and investigate those too. We take it serious, as any other gun crime.”
Simington said the department’s staffing levels have recently fallen somewhat, and an “aggressive hiring and recruitment campaign” is in progress. That includes efforts to include officers from different backgrounds to better reflect the community they serve.
You can read the full annual report on the city's website.
Newly elected officials in attendance
New officials voted in April 1 are to be sworn in on May 1.
The two new faces — incoming Ward 9 council member Abby Scott and Mayor-elect Dan Brady — were at the council's meeting Monday.
