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Housing
Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
10:19am
Fri Apr 13, 2012
1 comment

Foreclosure Crisis Moves Into Next Phase

Foreclosures are down in the Chicago metropolitan region, according to data released yesterday by the Chicago research and advocacy group the Woodstock Institute, but a troubling trend has persisted: People who lost their jobs continue to lose their homes. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Steven Ross Johnson
12:42pm
Wed Apr 11, 2012
1 comment

Harvey Residents, Advocates Take Vacant Property Debris To City Hall

Housing advocates took to the streets in the south suburban city of Harvey Monday afternoon to protest against what they claim have been the various problems that have developed as a result of the growing number of abandoned homes seen throughout their community over the past several years.

More than 20 demonstrators, which included residents and community activists led by the group Harvey Residents Organized for Change, gathered outside of the town's City Hall prior to the start of that night’s city council meeting to present Mayor Eric Kellogg and city council members with debris the group collected from three abandoned homes located on a block the group said had as many as 11 vacant houses.

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Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
1:36pm
Tue Apr 3, 2012

Advocates Balk At CHA's New Plan For Transformation Input Process

The Chicago Housing Authority has completed most of its scheduled public input process for the “Plan For Transformation 2.0” – but advocates criticize CHA for not providing a better idea of how they might re-transform public housing.

“It appears to be a pretty limited public input process,” says John McDermott, housing and land use director of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
11:59am
Tue Mar 27, 2012

Housing Crisis Continues To Wreak Havoc On Minority Communities, Wealth

More Chicagoland homeowners in communities of color are underwater compared to predominantly white neighborhoods, a new report from the Woodstock Institute shows, and some housing advocates say they aren’t surprised.

Overall, nearly one in four residential properties in the Chicago metropolitan area has a negative amount of equity, meaning the homeowner owes more than the worth of the home, according to the report, “Struggling to Staying Afloat: Negative Equity in Communities of Color in the Chicago Six County Region.”  

That comes out to be about $25 billion of negative equity in the Chicagoland region.
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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
3:53pm
Thu Mar 15, 2012
2 comments

Study Finds Illinois Lacks Affordable Housing, Advocates Lament Proposed Cuts

More than 50 percent of renters in Illinois don’t have enough money to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the state, a report released Tuesday by Housing Action Illinois and the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows.

The housing wage in Illinois is $16.78. That means a family must earn at least that hourly amount for 40 hours a week and 52 weeks per year in order to pay rent and utilities for a safe, modest two-bedroom apartment.

But the average private-housing renter in Illinois earns $13.95, which is $2.82 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a unit, said Bob Palmer, policy director at Housing Action Illinois.
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