CHICAGO —In case you missed it, Mayor Brandon Johnson earlier today joined local officials and members of the Englewood community to cut the ribbon on two formerly vacant homes that were rehabilitated into owner-occupied homes through the Chicago Department of Housing’sRebuild 2.0program.
Mayor Johnson joined the Chicago Community Loan Fund, the Cook County Land Bank Authority, the Illinois Housing Development Authority, the development team, and the new homeowners to mark the occasion.
“Safe, affordable, and accessible housing is a basic human right, and every Chicagoan deserves the opportunity to live in a community where they can thrive,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “By bringing these homes back to life, we are making long-overdue investments while creating pathways to affordable homeownership and generational wealth building.To the new occupants of today’s homes, I wish you all the best as you plant roots, create new memories, and create a space where you are able to grow old and watch your family grow here in Chicago.”
VIDEO of Mayor Johnson’s full remarks from the ribbon cutting celebration are availablehere.
Rebuild 2.0 is a Johnson administration initiative that aims to preserve existing housing sites, eliminate blight, and assist local developers.
Administered in partnership with CCLF with the support of a $20 million IHDA grant, the program acquires vacant or abandoned single-family homes and two-flats, finances rehabilitation through local developers, and sells them to owner-occupants on the South and West Sides.
“Today we are celebrating not just the building of a home, but progress in the revival of this block and of Englewood,” saidDOH Commissioner Lissette Castañeda. “It has never been more important than now that in this moment, as we navigate an affordability crisis, a housing crisis, and a hostile federal government ripping away pieces of our housing social safety net, that we pour our resources into strategies that work—building more housing, and housing more people.”
The rehabilitation projects were supported by approximately $415,000 in public funds made available through Rebuild 2.0, empowering CCLF to acquire the property at 5638 and 5640 S.
Green St. from the CCLBA.
To date, the program has revitalized and sold more than 70 homes, with another 45 currently in the development pipeline.
“CCLF is proud to help connect capital to projects that create real community benefit,”said Wendell Harris, Executive Vice President of Lending and Equity at CCLF. “We are proud to support developers who deliver quality work, and we are proud to partner with public agencies who understand the importance of investing in neighborhoods that have too often been overlooked.”
“Thank you to the neighbors on Green St. who've been watching these two buildings for years and waiting to see what would happen, because that's really the story,” said Darlene Dugo, CCLBA Associate Director. “Before today, 5638 and 5640 S.
Green were liabilities to the community.
They were vacant, not generating any tax revenue, and were deteriorating more and more each year.
Properties like these pull value out of the blocks around them.
That's the problem the Cook County Land Bank exists to solve in Englewood and across Cook County.
We acquire vacant and abandoned tax delinquents across Cook County, and we clear titles.
We get those properties into the hands of people who will actually invest in them.”
The project developer, ANM Mechanical HVAC & Plumbing / ANM Developments, is a Latino-owned, DBE-certified firm with over 10 years of residential rehab experience in Chicago.
“IHDA’s proud to support programs like this that center equity, strengthen neighborhoods, and support positive individual outcomes across Chicago and the entire state of Illinois,” said Kristin L.
Faust, IHDA Executive Director. “This ribbon cutting is the result of ongoing and intentional efforts to address and undo the long-term impacts in systems of unfair and predatory lending, racism, and redlining, blockbusting and it goes on.
It is a result of our shared belief that the zip code where you grew up should not determine your life's path.
It's a result of a vision that people should never be forced to choose between staying connected to their community and moving forward because they deserve the opportunity to stay where they live and move forward.”