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 State Law Creates Property Tax Incentive to Create and Preserve Affordable Rental Homes
Overview of Key Provisions As part of the omnibus legislation to create and preserve affordable rental homes across Illinois that was signed into law on July 29, 2021, HB 2621, there are provisions establishing new property tax incentives for owners of properties with...
LGBTQ+ Elder Housing Initiative
While many seniors have difficulty finding affordable housing, LGBTQ+ elders face barriers that are both common and unique. As queer and transgender people age, they are less likely to have children or family that can support them as they age in place. Traditional...
Diversifying Revenue through Social Enterprise
A social enterprise is a publicly responsible and innovative venture, driven by unmet community needs, that exists as a hybrid of the traditional nonprofit and business models. Broadly, these ventures can be classified into three categories defined by the Social...
8 Reasons We’re Proud of 2018
1. We were awarded $1.26 million by HUD to support housing counseling programs in the Midwest The funds will be distributed across our growing Intermediary network of 33 agencies in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri to support programs that help...
Our Housing Counseling Intermediary Network is Growing
Housing Action is thrilled to announce the addition of four new agencies to our Housing Counseling Intermediary network: Latin United Community Housing Association, Open Communities, Total Resource Community Development Corporation, and Community...