The cost of building affordable housing units in Chicago is on the rise, while at the same time there is less public money to finance those projects, according to the city’s Department of Housing and Real Estate.

The findings were disclosed at a meeting on Tuesday of the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate, where DHED released the city’s first quarter affordable housing progress report.

The Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved last week a private school for a part of the South Loop neighborhood that is known as the Roosevelt Collection. However, the local alderman is among those against the proposal.     

Developer McCaffery Interest Inc. is seeking permission to build a two-story, 75,000 square-foot building for the British School, a private school that already has a campus for elementary and secondary school students in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. 

The Chicago Plan Commission approved on Thursday a 13-story apartment and retail tower at 1330 E. 53rd St. that supporters and foes alike say will alter the character of the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Chicago-based Mesa Development, LLC submitted plans for the modular tower that will include 30,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, 218 parking spaces on the second and third floors, and 267 apartment units in the remaining stories. The property, which is owned by the University of Chicago, is currently the site of a Mobile gas station.