The Harvard University Joint Center on Housing Studies' recently released rental housing report corroborates CRN's findings in the Building Our Future Chicago Toolkit that housing instability has increased dramatically in the last decade. The Harvard study, which examines the state of rental housing in the nation, finds growing levels of housing cost burden (paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing) among renters . Low-income renters are especially at-risk and are more likely to be severely cost-burdened (paying 50 percent of more of their income on housing).

In Chicago, renter cost-burden rates have historically tracked at above the national average: in 2000, 50 percent of Chicago renters were cost-burdened and 20 percent were severely cost-burdened. By 2009, these numbers rose to 55 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

The study concludes that renter housing demand will increase with the rising rate of cost-burdened households. In addition, the growing numbers of cost-burdened owners--those who are facing foreclosure or are financially unstable as a result of the recession--will put more pressure on the rental housing market and intensify the demand for affordable rental housing.

Cost burden rates in Chicago were examined in the second part of CRN's Building Our Future Chicago Toolkit, Household Instability Increases Dramatically-Chicago At-Risk. We found these similarly alarming trends in Chicago:

• Communities with the highest cost burden rates are areas with the lowest household incomes, like Englewood, Garfield Park, and Humboldt Park. These same communities continue to suffer the highest housing stress from a decade ago.
• Owners especially are worse off today--there has been a 40 percent increase in the number of owners who are housing cost burdened from a decade ago.
• The most troubling finding is that a decade ago, cost burden rates did not go beyond 50 percent; today we are seeing cost burden rates soar past 60 percent in many communities. Middle-class communities like Bridgeport and Belmont Cragin saw cost-burden rates increase by about 30 percentage points since 2000.
• At least half of all households in 57 of Chicago's 77 community areas cannot afford their housing costs.

We Need the People Who Need Affordable Housing

For Chicago's residents and our workforce, the ability to locate and sustain housing that is affordable relative to their incomes is the first foundation for stability in employment and healthy communities.

The third part of the Building Our Future Chicago Toolkit, Housing and The Economy, examines the impact of affordable housing creation on the economic vitality of Chicago and the region. The development and preservation of affordable housing gives workers and employers access to affordable housing and provides the economic engine that supports the vitality of the region and its ongoing economic recovery. Moreover, access to affordable housing provides the opportunity for residents to participate in the local economy because they will have the means to do so.

Download the Latest Release Here

On April 6th, CRN, its members and other allies gathered at Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation to engage in the next step towards a strategy for moving community development solutions forward. We thank our members and allies for their participation. The next step is to incorporate the feedback from our members and community development practitioners into a final Platform for Building Our Future Chicago.

Photo: CRN Members stand up to be recognized at the April 6th Membership Meeting.

Despite the many interventions put in place to stave off foreclosures in the last few years, new and completed foreclosure filings showed no signs of abating. With an average of about 2,000 new filings and 1,300 completions per month, the filings represent a value of more than $9.9 billion in foreclosure liens.

There were about 23,800 new foreclosure filings last year, most of which were in properties located in the communities of West Ridge, Irving Park, Belmont Cragin, Austin, Humboldt Park, Chicago Lawn, Ashburn, and Auburn Gresham.

More than 16,400 properties completed the foreclosure process in 2010. Most of these were in the communities of West Ridge, Belmont Cragin, Austin and Chicago Lawn. The aggregate dollar amount lost for properties that were auctioned was $403 million.

Download the Full 2010 Year-End Report .

The House and Senate both passed a Continuing Resolution for a full year of federal funding for FY 2011. Several HUD programs were eliminated including Brownfields Redevelopment and Community Development Funds programs like the Sustainable Communities Initiative. But most appalling of all was the elimination of funding for housing counseling.

With foreclosures continuing to wreak havoc among families and communities (See 2010 Year-End Foreclosure Report), housing counseling agencies are crucial partners in the effort to mitigate the damaging impacts of foreclosures. In addition, housing counselors provide pre-purchase counseling to new and prospective homebuyer which ensures responsible homeownership and fosters an educated consumer base. In response to the cuts, HUD issued a FAQ on the impacts of the cut on housing counseling programs.

Enterprise Community Partners has provided a summary of housing and community development funding under the Continuing Resolution for FY 2011. [Summary and Budget Chart].

The City of Chicago recently solicited public comments on the Qualified Allocation Plan for the City's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. A Qualified Allocation Plan outlines and explains the City of Chicago's requirements and basis for awarding tax credits for housing developments. In our testimony, we urge the City to adopt a scoring system, prioritize non-profits, match resources with demand, and encourage density levels that promote sustainability.

Read the Full Testimony.

Relocation of Public Housing Residents

The Chicago Housing Authority released its first report on relocation of public housing residents during the Plan for Transformation. CHA reports that the majority of the original 10/1/99 residents remain within city limits. The report finds that of the current households still receiving CHA subsidies--over 9,300--only 60 families moved to the suburbs and 11 out of state. Its findings echo the result of a study by UIC's Voorhees Center, which found that a majority of Housing Choice Voucher holders not only remain within city limits, but are concentrated in high poverty, high unemployment communities in the South and West sides. (See Are we Home Yet? Creating Real Choice for Housing Choice Voucher Families in Chicago)

As part of the Plan for Transformation, CHA will provide relocation assistance to all original lease-compliant residents as of 10/1/99. The CHA Relocation report states that there were 25,000 households in good standing at the beginning of the Plan. Of these:

• 8,300 were senior housing residents
• 16,500 were in family or scattered site housing

The Plan also guarantees the 10/1/99 residents a choice of permanent housing, whether in a new or rehabbed CHA unit, or in the private market using vouchers. Their "right of return" is satisfied once they have made their permanent housing choice.

The study was able to track about 87 percent of the original residents. Of these:

• 9,388 households remain in the CHA system, either through vouchers or living in a CHA development
• 1,240 households are living in the private market without CHA subsidy and have not yet made their final housing choice, but expressed desire to return to CHA housing
• 1,307 are living in the private market without CHA subsidy and have satisfied their right to return
• 1,221 are deceased
• 1,488 were evicted

It is important to note that the report's analysis of movement patterns relied primarily on relocatee and CHA family housing data. The movement patterns of households living in the private market who have not yet exercised their right to return, those who were evicted, and families that CHA was unable to locate--approximately 4,930 households in total--are not included in this relocation report.

In its examination of movement patterns, CHA used data from the 9,388 households who remain in the CHA system. Of these households, 4,097 are renting in the private market with CHA vouchers (i.e. relocatees) and the rest are living in CHA family developments.

Households that stayed in CHA developments generally chose housing in or within proximity to their original residence. Most of these residents live in the Near West Side, Near North Side, Douglas, and Oakland community areas today-areas where new CHA developments that replaced the former CHA housing like ABLA Homes, Henry Horner Homes, Cabrini-Green, Madden/Wells/Darrow, Stateway Gardens, and Robert Taylor are now located.

On the other hand, the report finds that there was high mobilitywithin the City among households who exercised their housing choice with CHA vouchers in the last ten years. In 2001, relocatees lived in 30 of the 77 community areas. By 2010, these households lived in 71 of the 77 community areas. While, CHA relocatees have been able to find homes in the private market across the City, a vast majority of these households resettled in high poverty areas in the South, Far South Sides, and West Side communities.

Download the Full Relocation Report.

Housing Mobility Report: Should I Stay or Should I Go? Exploring the Effects of Housing Instability and Mobility on Children

The Center for Housing Policy recently released a research brief which explores the impacts of housing instability and mobility on children. The findings are based on four studies commissioned by the Center to address different aspects of mobility and its effects.

The findings show that low-income families are more likely to experience residential mobility that other income groups, and that while moves can be both planned and unplanned, frequent moves can have a negative effect on children.

"Hyper-mobility" for instance has a significant impact on academic performance. A study of sixth-graders in the Chicago Public Schools found that there is an educational gap of about one year between students who changed schools four or more times in a year than those who have not changed schools in six years.

The report also finds that frequent mobility contributes to higher incidences of neighborhood problems and examines the role of affordability and poor housing conditions in undermining stability.

The full report is available at the Center for Housing Policy website.

CRN recently partnered with the Illinois Housing Development Authority to deliver and three-day HOME Implementation training to over 50 participants in Bloomington, Illinois. The training covered topics such as IHDA's Homebuyer Program, Rehab Management, and Conflict Resolution.

Participants of Chicago Rehab Network's Community Development and Empowerment Series gathered at MicroTrain for the second course of the series, HP12-C Calculators and Spreadsheets. Building on conversations started in the Community Building course, participants learned the basics of housing finance concepts and how to utilize computer spreadsheets to keep track of Proforma details and how to use a HP12-C calculator to compute financial calculations.

For those of you interested in joining the latest round of participants, you can still register for the next class in the series, Proforma Development and Analysis. Be prepared to learn the tools and strategies to maintain the long-term affordability of your project, with a special emphasis on tax credits, public funds, grant funding and the new affordable housing donation tax credit. This course takes place on Thursday, May 5 and Friday, May 6 at Harris Bank from 8:30AM - 4:30PM on both days. Email training@chicagorehab.org or call Erin at (312) 663-3936 to register.

CRN Board member and The Resurrection Project Vice-President Guacolda Reyes was awarded La Raza's Annual Distinguished Women recognition awards, honoring the contributions Latinas in the community. Guacolda was selected out of 30 nominees who have played a significant role in the economic development or technological advancement for the Latino community. Congratulations!

• Lawndale Christian Development Corporation celebrated the opening of MLK Apartments with a Gala on April 3rd and ribbon-cutting on April 4th. See photos from the events here.
• Claretian Associates is holding an Energy Savers open house on May 3rd from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. at Villa Guadalupe Senior Apartments, Community Room 3201 East 91st Street, Chicago, IL. Contact Jeanine Otte at jotte@cntenergy.org or (773) 269-2222 for more information or to RSVP.
• Bethel New Life is hosting a dinner and fundraiser on May 20th at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Contact Melissa at 773-473-7870 x140 or mkelsey@bethelnewlife.org for more information.
• Ghian Foreman is the new Executive Director of Greater Southwest Development Corporation, replacing founding executive director James F. Capraro. Foreman is the founder of Maktub Development LLC and serves on the Chicago Police Board and the DuSable Museum of African American History's Board of Trustees.
• CRN welcomes Lee Deuben, the new Executive Director of Illinois Housing Council. Prior to her new position, Deuben was a Senior Planner at CMAP
• Enterprise Community Partners in partnership with the Metlife Foundation is accepting applications for the 2011 MetLife Foundation Awards for Excellence in Affordable Housing. Learn more about how to apply.

Photo: MLK Apartments courtesy of Powell Photography

In this Issue: Network Builder Issue 10, November/December 1986

• Local Groups Press Presidential Tower Demands: Groups call attention to the developers' misuse of public funds and to demand creation of low income housing trust fund
• Political Climate Right for Housing Fight: Democrats gain Senate control in Reagan Administration
• Network Fest Unites Housing Community : CRN celebrates 10 years (pictures)

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