Preserving Chicago’s Affordable Housing

Hadassah Patterson, writing in Next City, reminds the reader that new construction only makes up roughly one quarter of the affordable housing market. “The rest is comprised of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing, or NOAH, which falls between subsidized housing and high-rent buildings.” The city of Chicago, Patterson writes, lost 10 percent of its NOAH between 2012 and 2019, putting this reliable source of affordable housing in peril.

“One Chicago CDFI [community development financial institution] has been working to preserve that housing for decades. Called Community Investment Corporation (CCI), they have a wide range of programs, including their Troubled Building Initiative, to support the acquisition, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable rental housing.” That initiative, which dates back 20 years, 

“is aimed at unresponsive landlords. Instead of the city of Chicago filing code violations, TBI pulls together multiple city departments including housing, police and building, to identify at-risk structures and appoint CIC as a stakeholder to make repairs.”

“CIC also brings together multiple organizations to collaborate on strategies, policies and programs to preserve affordable housing through its Preservation Compact. Preservation Compact is home to a $48 million acquisition pool for 1-4 unit buildings, and a $34 million low-cost financing fund for affordability in higher-cost markets.” The group advocated for tax relief for multifamily housing projects, “which incentivizes low- to moderate-income owners to improve buildings while keeping them affordable. This is critical to preserving more locally-owned NOAH stock as national markets face speculation from aggressive investment groups without stake in community stability. ”