Chicago is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis, but developers have been flooding into City Hall lately hoping to get around a new law which would require them to set aside units for low-income families.

The legislation in question went into effect on Sunday, Oct. 11; according to DNAinfo Chicago, it’s intended to promote more affordable housing options in affluent Chicago neighborhoods. The Chicago Business Journal reported that the law was passed by Chicago’s City Council this past March, and it involves heavy financial penalities for developers that fail to incorporate affordable housing units into new housing developments.

At the time the law was passed, there were around 618,000 new single-family housing units being built across the country, and several cities have struggled to ensure that enough affordable housing options are built for low-income residents.

Chicago, in particular, is now requiring that developers set aside 10% of their units to be rented or sold at below-market rates, and it only applies to developments with 10 or more units. If developers fail to do so, they face a penalty of at least $100,000. In certain downtown areas of the city, the fine could be as high as $200,000.

This new requirement is a big change to Chicago’s affordable housing legislation, but lawmakers did write up a caveat: developers could abide by the 2007 version of the law — which didn’t require a certain percentage of low-income units — if they submitted their projects to the City Council by its Sept. 24 meeting and have their project approved within nine months (i.e., before June 2016).

Unsurprisingly, there was an influx of activity at City Hall at the end of September; the Chicago Business Journal stated that residential development applications increased by 46% between August and September, due to the deadline.

City officials and developers are still pretty divided on the issue. While city officials hope to encourage more diversification in the city, many developers have argued that construction costs are far too high in a city like Chicago to justify building new low-income units.

The Home Builders Association of Chicago, for example, filed a lawsuit against the city this past August for “improper taking of private property for public use without proper compensation.”

Three years ago, Roosevelt University decided to build a 32-story, $123 million skyscraper residence on its downtown Chicago campus; since building the giant dormitory, South Loop Tower has become a student hub for living, studying, and socializing.

It has also become the center of Roosevelt’s financial woes, according to a new report from the Chicago Tribune, which described the building on South Wabash Avenue as “more like a millstone than a monument to Roosevelt’s educational mission.” The building was reportedly a “pet project” of former Roosevelt president Charles Middleton, who started planning the South Loop tower back in 2002 and retired this past June.

Since building South Loop, Roosevelt hasn’t been able to pay off its construction loans. Interest payments have “ballooned” for the private nonprofit university, and tuition revenue has fallen much shorter than what school officials had predicted back in 2009.

The school is now struggling to stay on track of its debt payments, which make up a whopping 11% of the school’s operating budget; the Tribune reported that this is “nearly double the typical debt burden at financially healthy universities.”

The 6,000-student college, according to American School and University, is expected to be drowning in debt for the fifth year in a row. Salary increases for staff members have been frozen, the school’s administration department is looking to lower its spending, and the school’s new president Ali Malekzadeh is left to clean up the mess.

Roosevelt justified the South Loop tower with predictions from finance officials, back in 2009, that the school would see a $40 million increase in tuition revenue by 2014. Considering that Roosevelt’s average tuition for full-time students is around $26,000 per year — just slightly lower than the national average of $31,000 for the 2014-2015 school year — one would think that the school would be able to pay back its debts.

In reality, the school’s tuition revenue only increased by $5 million.

Officials expected the new dormitory to bring more full-time students onto the campus, and full-time enrollment did increase — just not quickly enough. There are twice as many beds available on Roosevelt’s campus now than there were in 2002, but student enrollment stagnated shortly after construction began in 2009.

Although enrollment is continuing to grow slowly, many Roosevelt University students and staff members are wondering whether it will be enough — or whether that 32-story tower will be considered the beginning of the end for Roosevelt.

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