Preservation Fund

Chase Bank, The MacArthur Foundation, and LISC have been working with the City of Chicago’s Department of Housing to finalize the City's participation in a preservation loan facility, which is expected to go to City Council for approval this summer. LISC staff, in partnership with Chase Bank, continue to work towards a summer target date.  It is anticipated that legal documentation will be completed soon to allow opening of the loan facility after City approval, later this summer.

Interagency Council

The Interagency Council, working closely with the Chicago regional HUD office, sent a package of information in March to 100 at-risk HUD properties. Owners received a cover letter from Ed Hinsberger, director of the HUD Chicago regional office, along with a brochure detailing available resources from HUD, The Preservation Compact, the State and the City of Chicago.  Most of the owners who responded to a card intended to gauge their renewal plans (approximately 30 percent), expressed an intention to renew long-term.

The Interagency Council will follow up with some of the owners of assisted properties in the near future based on the information received.  Follow-up will be determined by owner responses along with data analysis and input from community groups in the Rental Housing Alliance on at-risk properties.
 
The Interagency Council also has been working closely with the Rental Housing Alliance to identify common issues they can address together to prevent at-risk properties from being lost. Outreach and education events are being planned for specific audiences.  HUD subsidized cooperatives, which are a somewhat unique structure for assisted properties, tend to be more complicated than other subsidized property structures.  As a result, trainings and targeted outreach strategies for co-op board members and co-op members/tenants are being scheduled for the summer.

Data Clearinghouse

The Data Clearinghouse is conducting neighborhood surveys to determine the physical condition of multifamily buildings in six neighborhoods in cooperation with neighborhood and student groups. They are also conducting an in-depth analysis of data sources to understand the implications of the foreclosure crisis for rental markets.

The Data Clearinghouse has sent out a survey to apartment owners and managers, in cooperation with the Chicagoland Apartment Association and Spanish Coalition for Housing, to collect data on rents and operating characteristics. This information will be useful in the continuing analysis of rental housing dynamics in Cook County.

Energy Savers Program

More than 1,300 rental units have received energy audits and received recommendations for energy-saving improvements and investments. Three hundred units are currently in construction, with 39 units complete, with financing provided through Community Investment Corporation, which offers low-cost (1/2 of prime) loans for energy improvements.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) is adding two new energy auditors -  Zai Chang, a CNT Energy staff member who comes with experience in residential electricity efficiency programs and a graduate of the University of Illinois, and Alex Fuller, an engineer who recently graduated from Princeton.  CNT anticipates that additional staff will allow for more time to explain complicated energy-audit findings to owners and managers, as well as more audits.

Rental Housing Alliance

The Rental Housing Alliance has been working closely with the Interagency Council.  Together they are identifying common issues they can address together to prevent at-risk properties from being lost. Outreach and education events are being planned for specific audiences, including tenants of assisted and unassisted properties and residents of Project-Based Section 8 cooperative housing in Cook County. HUD subsidized cooperatives are a somewhat unique structure for assisted properties.  The mini-conference will be tailored to co-op board members and co-op members/tenants.

In addition, Rental Housing Alliance representatives have participated in several meetings with community based organizations to look at connections between foreclosure crisis and preservation of neighborhoods.

Representatives of the Rental Housing Alliance have also given presentations about The Preservation Compact at several public meetings (see What is Happening Now for further details).

Assessor's Office

In April, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan announced a proposal that would reduce tax assessments on multi-family residential properties.

Houlihan’s proposal would reduce the County’s complex 6-tiered assessment levels to two: 10% of market value and 25% of market value. This approach would eliminate the bias against multi-family residential properties by reducing the multi-family assessment level to the same level as other residential properties. 

The current ordinance level for residential properties is at 16% of market value and the proposal calls for those to be at 10%.  The assessment level for commercial and industrial properties would be adjusted from 38% and 36% to 25%.  “This change will cement the relationship between the assessment and market value,” Houlihan said.  “It will give taxpayers the ability to review their assessments and determine if it clearly reflects the correct market value for their properties.”  Houlihan stressed that this was a starting point and that he hopes to get input regarding the best way to implement this important change. “My goal is that the Board of Commissioners will be able to review the measure and begin holding hearings in June and that the provision will be passed this fall,” he said.