Encuentro Square cost $67.5 million to build — more than $750,000 per apartment — an exorbitant cost that hampers the ability to build more needed affordable housing, developers and experts said.
“There’s this perception that when an affordable housing development is really expensive, somebody’s getting away with something,” said Lincoln Stannard, co-executive director for LUCHA, the affordable development company behind Encuentro. “The reality is, high costs for projects create challenges for anyone and keep us from doing what we want to do. When projects are high cost, they are more complex, take a lot longer and they limit our mission to create as much affordability as possible.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office has touted progress in the building and funding of affordable housing during his tenure, including efforts to streamline development approval and the creation of a city-run nonprofit to finance affordable housing construction.
But with soaring building costs, a competitive funding process and many hoops for developers to jump through, more efforts are needed to bring down affordable housing construction costs and address the city’s housing crisis, experts said.
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Hermosa, where they celebrated the opening of an affordable housing development they said would help keep families in the gentrifying area.
The 89-unit [Encuentro Square complex](https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/02/16/logan-squares-new-affordable-apartment-complex-will-help-neighbors-facing-displacement-officials-say/) provides housing for families making less than the area median income, providing homes for people who have been priced out of many areas of the city, particularly on the Northwest Side.
Encuentro Square cost $67.5 million to build — more than $750,000 per apartment — an exorbitant cost that hampers the ability to build more needed affordable housing, developers and experts said.
“There’s this perception that when an affordable housing development is really expensive, somebody’s getting away with something,” said Lincoln Stannard, co-executive director for LUCHA, the affordable development company behind Encuentro. “The reality is, high costs for projects create challenges for anyone and keep us from doing what we want to do. When projects are high cost, they are more complex, take a lot longer and they limit our mission to create as much affordability as possible.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office has touted progress in the building and funding of affordable housing during his tenure, including efforts to streamline development approval and the creation of a city-run nonprofit to finance affordable housing construction.
But with soaring building costs, a competitive funding process and many hoops for developers to jump through, more efforts are needed to bring down affordable housing construction costs and address the city’s housing crisis, experts said.
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