Chicago CHA Owners Briefing and Question

[Matthew Olszak]

I attended a CHA Owners Briefing the other day, and have to say I was pleasantly surprised at what I heard. I though for sure I would languish through the 2 hours, but with the great presenter it went quickly and was really informative. Definitely recommended for anyone looking to get into section 8 in Chicago.

My question is this - Is a closet in a bedroom mandatory, and is it counted towards bedroom square footage? Unfortunately, I thought of this today, and being the weekend, I don't expect anyone to answer the phone at the CHA. I'd love to be able to get this work done this weekend. I have a second bedroom of 67.4 sq. ft. (rectangular, no closet), and the HQS minimum is 70. So my thought is to bump a wall out into the large living room to make up the 2.6 I am short to classify as a 2BR. Due to the door and wall switch location, it would be easiest if this could be a 6ft x 1ft nook in the 7ft wall, versus moving the whole wall. My worry is that if the inspector see's a nook in a bedroom w/o a closet, it might be considered a closet and I'm not sure if that would count for bedroom square footage. I'm in the ending stages of renovation now, still time to adjust these rooms, but I'd hate to move the wall a foot just to find out it was for naught.

[Gilbert Dominguez]

The closets are considered part of the living space so yes they count toward the room square footage requirements. If it is existing even if it did not meet today's codes they would still count as bedrooms. They go by the date the house was constructed no one is going to go around and measure everyone's bedrooms to make sure they qualify under the new code requirements for bedrooms. Plus if you alter a wall you definitely need a permit for that and have it inspected. If you alter what is known as a bearing wall then you may need a structural engineer to design that for you. I would not go around altering the walls in your house if you do not know what you are doing and for what reason. Better wait and ask the authorities.