A struggling economy and a delayed state budget have left one local nonprofit organization scrambling for funding to convert a Sixth Ward home to an affordable housing unit.
Last year, an Evanston resident contacted the Citizens’ Lighthouse Community Land Trust about selling a property in northwest Evanston to the organization, said President Betty Ester. The identity of the seller could not be disclosed until a transaction is finalized.
“The owner came to us and offered it for a lower price than the market,” Ester said. “But we still don’t have enough money.”
Funding for affordable housing projects usually comes from a number of sources, including private donors, federal grants allocated by the city government and grants from the state government.
The Illinois General Assembly has been stuck in state budget negotiations since May. Consequently, the state’s portion of the funding has been delayed.
Earlier this year, the seller retracted the offer to the group and placed the property on the market. After the house failed to sell, the owner once again offered the nonprofit an opportunity to convert the property into affordable housing.
In an increasingly affluent Evanston, affordable housing long has been an important issue to many city officials because it will maintain a level of economic diversity. The city has succeeded with several projects in south Evanston and is looking to expand affordable housing to other parts of the city, like the Sixth Ward.
“I hope projects like this succeed,” Ald. Edmund Moran Jr. (6th) said. “The problem is that someone has to pay, because affordable housing dollars aren’t always abundant.”
With a $140 million deficit in the police and fire pension funds, the city government has spent months grappling for sources of revenue. In a time when aldermen constantly are searching for ways to avoid cutting services while shrinking the budget, introducing new expenses is a tough sell.
After the Trust learned about the stall in the state legislature, the organization asked the city government for additional funding on top of the HOME funds, a federal grant for affordable housing projects that usually are distributed two to three times per year, Moran said.
The city rejected the request because its budgetary system is not set up for spontaneous funding, according to the Central Street Neighbors Association Web site.
The sluggish real estate market has presented another difficulty in dispersing affordable housing.
“It’s hard to find opportunities for this because the seller usually just wants the market rate,” Moran said.
The nonprofit’s first converted property, a three-bedroom unit at 2212 Washington St., still is on sale for $169,000, according to the organization’s Web site
