The $500 million presidential center now under construction in Jackson Park has already made South Shore “ground zero” of Chicago’s housing crisis, with a high eviction rate and surging real estate prices, according to supporters of a City Council proposal.
Housing
One longtime CHA resident said the potential sale of her home is part of a longtime pattern of neglect and retaliation from management companies and a failure of proper oversight from the CHA — a pattern echoed by claims from four other leaseholders or resident advocates in neighborhoods around the city.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”
Construction is underway for a new affordable housing development in Logan Square that aims to provide families and longtime residents with 89 affordable housing units in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.
City officials announced the lawsuit had been filed Thursday against Vision Property Management, LLC, its successor FTE Networks, Inc., and other affiliates in Cook County Circuit Court.
Bill Designed to Revamp Property Tax Sale System That Fueled ‘Urban Decay’ Headed to Governor’s Desk
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”
The three proposals would invest $550 million in the Loop to build 1,059 apartments in what is now mostly empty office space, including 317 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans as part of an effort to reduce segregation in Chicago in return for $188 million in city subsidies, officials said.
On Monday night, the Evanston City Council approved a cash option to its Housing Restorative Program. Now, the program includes direct cash benefits for those who qualify.
The Seng is a 34-unit condo building that aims to attract middle-income families previously priced out of the area. A three-bedroom unit might go for $333,000, the developer said, compared to the market average of $700,000 in the neighborhood.
If homeowners are delinquent more than a year on making property tax payments, they’re at risk of owing large interest payments to private investors who buy up that debt. “It’s the poorest people paying the richest people,” Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said.
Some longtime Latino residents in the Logan Square community say they don’t know how long they will be able to keep paying property tax hikes, maintain a home and survive.
Delinquent properties are eligible for the Cook County Tax Sale, which is administered by the Cook County treasurer’s office. That’s where a private investor buys the debt and can make a big profit off of it.
Thanks to a “little-known loophole,” hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate investors have “siphoned” approximately $280 million from schools, parks, libraries, fire departments and other government agencies between September 2015 and September 2022 in Cook County.
Chanting “Housing is a human right! Lightfoot will not stop our fight!” and “Lo-ri! We’re calling on you!” anti-homelessness activists staged a tent city at City Hall to demand a dedicated funding stream for subsidized housing, just as Mayor Lori Lightfoot delivered her yearly budget address.
One in 20 tap water samples taken from thousands of Chicagoans found lead levels at or above federal limits, according to a recent analysis by the Guardian. It also found that nine of the top 10 ZIP codes with the largest percentages of high test results were in neighborhoods with majority Black and Latino residents.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was determined to chart a “bright and lasting” future for LaSalle Street between Washington Street and Jackson Boulevard, an area of the city she said had been permanently altered by the shifts triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
