Capacity Building for Housing Developers
Recent Workshops
Each year, at our annual conference, we invite housing developers to join us for a series of workshops specific to their interests. See workshop descriptions and select PDFs of presentations from our 2013, 2014, 2015, or 2016 conferences.
In 2017, we brought Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) to Chicago for a day-long workshop on how passive housing design principles—which focus on energy efficiency, comfort, and minimizing environmental impact—can be used in the creation of affordable IN addition to covering the basic principles of passive housing, we discussed building codes and regulations, talked about financing affordable passive buildings, and heard presentations about recent projects, such as the Tierra Linda project by LUCHA.
In 2015, we brought together developers, architects, and financiers for a panel discussion entitled The New Chicago Bungalow: a Flexible, Affordable and Sustainable Archetype for 21st Century Chicago; see their presentations here.
Housing Action Illinois initially created our training and consulting programming to serve the needs of Community Development Corporations (CDCs) across the state. We focused on building the capacity of smaller, neighborhood-based CDCs to increase the development of housing units for low- and moderate-income households. We also served as a HUD TA (technical assistance) contractor and helped CDCs and municipalities to better use HOME program funds for real estate development. We assisted the Illinois Housing Development Authority in identifying Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) that qualified for HOME set-aside funds and helped nonprofit CDCs secure CHDO status.
As the priorities of the HOME program changed, so did our assistance to developers. We moved from providing general assistance to providing individual project assistance, including determining project feasibility and creating operating and development budgets. For example, we assisted one local CDC to secure financing to rehabilitate a multi-unit apartment building in the south suburbs. We also created market studies for municipalities seeking to use HOME funds to finance development projects. Today, we primarily focus on supporting housing developers by building their skills and capacity through workshops, training, and discussion groups.
Latest News for Housing Developers
New Faces at Housing Action Illinois
Housing Action Illinois has come a long way since we hired our first full-time staff member in 1988—a single employee who shared our offices with the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing. Today, we have 14 full-time staff members, and we’ve grown so...
7 Reasons We’re Proud of 2017
1. Housing Action Illinois turned 30! We celebrated thirty years of leading the movement for affordable homes in Illinois—and renewed our resolve to continue working until everyone in our state has a stable, healthy, affordable place to call home. 2. We...
Housing Action Trainings Go Nationwide
We're excited to announce that Housing Action Illinois is beginning to facilitate housing counselor trainings not just in Illinois but in states across the nation. In response to needs expressed by housing counselors, Housing Action has started to develop...
May 5 Forum on the New Chicago Bungalow: Presentations Posted
The New Chicago Bungalow: A Flexible, Affordable and Sustainable Archetype for 21st Century Chicago Tuesday, May 5 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wells Fargo Learning & Event Center 10 S. Wacker Drive, 14th Floor, Chicago A community development panel discussion...
Webinar: Crowdfunding—The Next Community Development Financing Tool?
On June 5, Housing Action Illinois and crowdfunding entrepreneur Nat Zorach offered a webinar titled "Crowdfunding—The Next Community Development Financing Tool?" Crowdfunding is the process of raising small amounts of money from a large base of individual backers—the...