Riley School, Janet Beyersdorfer and Eleanor Yura

Rental Apartments in the Chicagoland Area

Our school district is located near Chicago and includes land located in several suburbs. The population in our area has been growing for several years. Some schools have many more students than they had a few years ago, others have about the same number. The east side of the district has had an increase in the number of students going to those schools; the west side schools have not had as many new students. Many people live in our community and work in the city. There have been many single family homes, condominiums, and apartments built in our area. There is little open land remaining.

The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) is concerned that people are having problems finding quality affordable rental apartments in the Chicago suburbs. They are studying the six-counties that make up the Chicagoland area: Cook, Kane, DuPage, Lake, McHenry and Will. The MCP uses the definition that people have "Affordable housing" if they pay no more than 30% of a month's income for rent.

Over the last 10 years, the population and the demand for housing has grown. The MPC is now gathering information about the amount of rental housing in the Chicago area to learn about rent costs, apartment sizes, and what apartments are available. They will next talk with rental property owners, developers, and renters to find out what opportunities and problems there are to building and moving into quality rental apartments. MPC will also go into the areas to look at the condition of the apartments currently available. Finally, the MPC will make predictions for the next 5 to 10 years about the rental housing in the Chicago area. Many people are interested in this information including building owners, real estate salespeople, fire and police departments, construction company owners and school districts. For example, the more buildings built here the larger the fire and police forces.

Riley School has had an addition since its construction in 1972.	Riley's playground is usually crowded with children from the neighborhood.
Construction of new homes is seen throughout the Chicagoland area	Open land in the area is decreasing as new homes and housing complexes are built.

 Math Problems

1. The MPC recommends that 30% of the income for the year should be spent on rent. If a family's income is $60,000 per year, what is the MPC's recommended amount of rent they should be spend per month?

Hint: Find out how much money the family income is each month. You have to divide. Next find 10% of the monthly salary and add that number three times, or multiply by three to get 30%. OR find 10% of the yearly income by dividing; then multiply by 3 to find the 30%. To find the monthly income divide by 12.

2. The town of Buffalo Grove is expecting that eventually there will be approximately 48,000 residents. Construction companies have built rental apartments recently because 5,820 families want to move into this area. They want to live near the train station so that they can work or do business in downtown Chicago. 10% of the new residents can not afford to buy a house so they rent. Of the renters, 10 % are single people and another 10% are couples without children. These two groups only need one bedroom apartments. The average number of people in the remaining families is four. How many of the remaining new families need rental apartments with more than one bedroom?

Hint: Divide 5820 by 10 to find the number of renters. Then take 10% of the total renters to find the number of those who are single. The 10% of those renters who are couples must also be subtracted from the total renters. Add these two groups, and then subtract to find the number of families remaining.

3. Sixty percent of the 3,000 families moving into our section of Arlington Heights have two children. The other 40% of families do not have school-age children. One child from each family will go to Riley Elementary School. Fifty percent of the remaining children will go to London Middle School and the rest will go to Buffalo Grove High School. How many children will go to each school?

Hint Find 60% of 3,000. Remember that each family has two children. Divide that answer in half so you know how many children go to Riley. Divide in half the remaining children to figure out how many children go to London Middle School and Buffalo Grove High School.

Math Topic and Grade Level: Percents, Grade 3 or Grade 4

NCTM Standards Correlation: Problem-Solving, Number and Operations, Communication

Answers

Answer to #1: $1500 per month ($5000 per month income; $500 is 10%; $1500 is 30%)

Answer to #2: 10% of the 5820 is 582 = number of renters. 10% +10% = 20% which is 58 + 58 =116. 582-116 = 466.

Answer to #3. 10% of 3,000 is 300; 60% would be 1800 children for one child per family but the problem indicates two children per family. There are 3600 children. 1800 will go to Riley Elementary; 900 to London; 900 to Buffalo Grove HS.