This website is the digital reproduction of a Master’s Thesis submitted by Rance Graham-Bailey to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Acknowledging both the significant descriptive component of the thesis and the advantages of organizing long-form text into short posts that are hierarchical, categorized and indexed by various sub-topics, this site seeks to make the fruits of the research more accessible to those who may make use of the work.

The thesis analyzes a range of market, policy, and neighborhood challenges of the particular housing typology of two- to four-unit buildings in the Chicago neighborhood of Woodlawn in hopes of developing a plan that could credibly contribute to the neighborhood’s health. This it accomplishes through a descriptive case study of the real estate development process and supporting social ecosystem. The thesis then formulates of a set of strategic options for stabilizing the local market, pursuing specific policy and community development improvements, expanding access to financial resources, improving technical and professional services for homeowners and investing in a manner consistent with promoting improved circumstances for the widest swatch of neighborhood residents and stakeholders.

Smaller buildings in Chicago are a very important of part of the housing stock, with two- to four-unit properties accounting for approximately one-third of the entire stock in Cook County (IHS, 2012a). In Woodlawn, the proportion of rental housing units in this building typology is slightly higher(IHS, 2012b). Much of this housing was negatively impacted by Great Recession, with 41% of the 2-4 buildings in Woodlawn having been impacted by foreclosure in 2005-2011 (IHS, 2012a). Because of both their ubiquitous and dispersed presence in the neighborhood, these buildings are critical to the health of the neighborhood.

Since 2007, an exciting revitalization endeavor has been taking place in Woodlawn. As the lead grantee in the $30.5 million Woodlawn Choice Neighborhoods, non-profit developer Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), has undertaken an ambitious plan centered on redeveloping a large, distressed apartment complex in the center of the neighborhood. Under the Choice Neighborhoods initiative, POAH has been partnering with stakeholders to take on broader neighborhood-level improvements and formulate a Small Building Initiative since 2012. This research and planning endeavor is directly motivated by this Initiative, yet it intentionally seeks to both to identify generalizable challenges, lessons, and insight that is valuable to a range of neighborhood planners and actors.