Community members filled the pews at Rogers Park Presbyterian Church Sunday, but not for a worship service, though people passing by the church might not have been able to tell the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are moved to say \u2018Amen\u2019 or to clap, please don\u2019t hold back,\u201d said\u00a0 the Rev. Debbie Paton, pastor of the church.\u00a0 \u201cDo not sit on your hands.\u00a0 They were made for celebration and that is the first rule of this meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
She chaired a meeting about proposals aimed at combating the loss of affordable rental housing in Rogers Park and the impact of foreclosure on neighborhoods.\u00a0 The meeting was sponsored by two community organizations and brought together residents, clergy, politicians and foundation representatives to build support for the proposals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t begin to tell you,\u201d Rogers Park resident Arletha Gary, who attended the meeting, said when asked about the number of people she knew who had moved from Rogers Park because of disappearing affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Gary said that in the more than 20 years she had lived in the neighborhood, she has seen housing costs rise and subsidized apartments turned into condominiums, forcing many neighborhood residents to move\u00a0 to the west and north and even as far as Englewood.<\/p>\n
Speaking from the pulpit in support of a proposed rental improvement fund, Brian White, executive director of Lakeside CDC, expressed similar concerns: \u201cSimply put, we need affordable rental housing in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmen,\u201d the audience replied.<\/p>\n
White said the neighborhood lost more than 3,600 rental units during the peak of the recent housing boom.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies were uprooted and pushed from one spot to another or else pushed out of the community altogether,\u201d White said.\u00a0 \u201cMuch of the remaining affordable rental housing is in buildings which need repair to make them livable and cost-effective.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rental improvement fund proposal would establish a new TIF district–where a portion of property taxes are diverted to fund grants for landlords to make improvements to multi-family rental housing. Landlords would receive grants of up to $350,000 on the condition that they maintain rents at affordable levels for 10 years.<\/p>\n
The next step for the proposal is an eligibility study, required by the state law before establishing a new TIF district.\u00a0 While the city has sanctioned the study, White said, outside funding is necessary.<\/p>\n
Mijo Vodopic, program officer for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, said the foundation was interested in a continued dialogue about the rental improvement fund, but stopped short of\u00a0 committing funds to move the proposal forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very encouraged to have the rental improvement fund brought to our attention,\u201d Vodopic said, noting that the idea originated from community organizations with an understanding of the neighborhood’s housing needs.<\/p>\n
Vodopic said the foundation looks forward to a full proposal from the improvement fund\u2019s organizers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens when a couple of homes on just one block go into foreclosure?\u201d Pam Riedy, a Northside POWER leader who spoke at the meeting, asked.\u00a0 \u201cWe see our community struggle to maintain their roots while we are forced to uproot and transition into a new neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you ever get the feeling that banks got bailed out and we got sold out?\u201d Riedy asked the the audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cBanks got bailed out, we got sold out!\u201d voices responsed.<\/p>\n
After the meeting, Riedy linked foreclosure and affordable housing, saying that owners of smaller rental properties offering affordable rents are much more vulnerable to factors such as the loss of a tenant.\u00a0 If these factors lead to the landlord entering foreclosure, affordable housing could be lost.<\/p>\n
Supporters of measures designed to alleviate the impact of foreclosure on communities found support from Illinois State Senator Heather Steans and Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin at the meeting.\u00a0 Both politicians said they would support state legislation that provided for foreclosure outreach, mediation and vacant property maintenance.<\/p>\n
The proposed foreclosure legislation includes a $1,000 fee, paid by the seller of a foreclosed property, that would fund outreach and mediation programs similar to a Cook County program that started April 12.\u00a0 Authorization of local governments to hold owners, trustees, and mortgage-holders responsible for maintaining and securing vacant properties is also a part of the proposed legislation.<\/p>\n
Riedy said lawmakers in Springfield are circulating\u00a0 drafts of legislation containing the provisions supported by Northside POWER, but to her knowledge, none had been introduced.<\/p>\n
Even if legislators don\u2019t get to the foreclosure proposals until the fall, Riedy said, supporters would still push for the legislation.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe are going to be knocking on doors all summer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Read more about the Proposed 49th Ward Rental Improvement Fund.<\/a><\/p>\n Originally published April 20, 2010 as “Foundation, politicians support housing proposals at Rogers Park meeting”<\/a> at Medill Reports.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Community members filled the pews at Rogers Park Presbyterian Church Sunday, but not for a worship service, though people passing by the church might not have been able to tell the difference. \u201cIf you are moved to say \u2018Amen\u2019 or to clap, please don\u2019t hold back,\u201d said\u00a0 the Rev. Debbie Paton, pastor of the church.\u00a0… Continue reading Foundation, politicians support housing proposals at Rogers Park meeting<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[735,800],"tags":[823,812,824,813,804,808],"class_list":["post-1931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chicago","category-reporting","tag-foreclosure","tag-housing","tag-lakesidecdc","tag-rif","tag-rogerspark","tag-tif","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wnIz-v9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1934,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}