Housing Redevelopment Proposal #1: Expand efforts to re-position residential properties through code enforcement and community receivership

Return to 2019 Chicago Housing Agenda

Neighborhoods that struggle with disinvestment and vacancy also struggle with violent crime. Families in high-poverty census tracts experience serious violence crime at a rate of 15.2 out of 1000 compared to 4.5 out of 1000 for the census tracks with the highest income (Heartland Alliance 2017).

This represents an opportunity build on what has working and expand it through greater local attention and funding, namely the combination of targeted code enforcement of vacant properties in and the reliance of an expanded network of community receivers.

The Trouble Building Initiative is a program of the city that works to identity properties and brings city agency attention in compelling landlords to rectify issues negatively impacting neighbors and the community surrounding (HUD Case Study)

The Micro-Markets Recovery Program was another program by the City that identified community-based housing providers, financial services agencies and technical assistance providers who were hired to take on the role of “community stewards” and act on the community’s behalf in (NHS Chicago Micro Market Recovery Program; Next City Micro-Market article 2016)

Proposal: The combination of these efforts, though most prominent when the city benefited from HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program and NSP2 funds to invest in specific represented qualifying census tracts as a means for climbing out of the Great Recession, reflect a series of creative policy around community revitalization that should serve as the basis of a bolstered Mayoral effort. They have even resulted in additional efforts to train local community receivers to act in a similar role in re-positioning local properties and creating local ownership and entrepreneurship. These have been sponsored by the likes of the Chicago Community Loan Fund and the Community Investment Corporation, as well as the Dearborn Realtist Board.

Policies should also be advanced that expand the technical assistance to support these efforts, provide mini-grants and loans to support these local efforts.