CIC is moving!  Same building, new suite:  As of June 2, CIC will be located at 222 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 380.
May 2017
Real Returns:  CIC's Investor Newsletter
New Reports Show Need for Affordable Rentals
New releases from the Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) at DePaul University and The Preservation Compact document the continued and growing need for affordable rental housing in Cook County and highlight a set of policies and program initiatives developed to preserve the affordable housing stock.

The State of Rental Housing in Cook County by IHS updates key data on changing rental demand, the supply of rental housing, and how these dynamics are affecting access to affordable rental housing for Cook County's lowest income households.

Key findings show:
  • Rental demand continues to grow - In 2015 the number of renter households in Cook County continued to increase and the rental rate grew to 44.2 percent of all households, approaching levels last seen in 1990. 
  • The affordable rental housing stock is shrinking - While the demand for affordable rental housing has remained strong in recent years, the supply of affordable units has declined since 2013. Part of this decline has been driven by the shrinking stock of 2-to-4 unit rental properties. Units in these smaller rental buildings have traditionally contributed significantly both to the overall rental stock and to the critical stock of lower-cost rental housing in Cook County. However, Cook County lost an average 5,709 rental units annually in 2-to-4 unit buildings between 2012 and 2015. 
The Preservation Compact's biannual report, Preservation and Beyond , details affordable housing preservation strategies developed and implemented in Cook County over the last two years. The Preservation Compact, a collaborative led by CIC, develops policies to preserve affordable rental housing in Cook County, ensuring that properties are maintained in good condition with affordable rents. IHS data has informed the work of The Preservation Compact since 2007.

IHS data helped identify the importance of 1-4 unit buildings, which comprise over 45 percent of Cook County's rental stock. As a result, The Preservation Compact and its partners initiated several programs which have collectively preserved nearly 900 affordable 1-4 units. These strategies include:
  • $26 Million Loan Pool - CIC developed a $26 million loan pool to rehab 1-4 unit buildings for rental housing in struggling neighborhoods with little demand from new homeowners. That program has deployed $15.9 million to finance 281 units.
  • CDFI Collaborative - Three Chicago-based CDFIs, Chicago Community Loan Fund, NHS Chicago, and CIC, worked together to preserve nearly 600 units of 1-4 unit buildings with a $5 million grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.  The three organizations provided acquisition, rehabilitation, and long-term financing solutions to address the needs of building owners in low- and moderate-income communities. 

To read The State of Rental Housing in Cook County, go here.

To read Preservation and Beyond, go here.


Chicago Tribune:  Why half of Cook County renters pay more than they can afford in rent
 
The Chicago Tribune wrote about the new IHS State of Rental Housing report online and in print today:  Why half of Cook County renters pay more than they can afford in rent. 

The article focuses on the loss of affordable rentals in 1-4 unit properties in Cook County, and features CIC client Scott Allbright.  CIC's 1-4 Unit Rental Redevelopment Loan Program , created in  response to the influx of foreclosed and abandoned 1-4 unit properties following the housing crisis, has allowed Allbright to build his portfolio of 1-4 unit rental properties. Read the Tribune article here. 
Energy Savers: A Model for Financing Efficiency
In an interview with the Clean Energy Finance Forum, CIC president Jack Markowski described how the Energy Savers Loan Program is a model for financing energy efficiency.  CIC partners with Elevate Energy to provide technical assistance and financing for owners of affordable rental housing to install energy saving building retrofits. Since 2008, CIC has provided more than $23 million in grants and financing to retrofit 10,000 units of rental housing. 

Energy Savers was made possible in its pilot stage by grants from Bank of America, the City of Chicago, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and the Grand Victoria Foundation, with investments from Bank of America and the MacArthur Foundation. Given the success of the program, CIC has now incorporated energy retrofit financing into its regular lending practices.

The Clean Energy Finance Forum is part of the Yale Center for Business and the Environment.  Read the full interview at cleanenergyfinanceforum.com . 
Contact
Kerry Sullivan
Director of Marketing and Communications
312-258-0070

CIC is Chicago's Multifamily Rehab Lender.

About CIC  
Since 1984, CIC has provided more than $1.2 billion to acquire, rehab and preserve 58,000 units of affordable housing for more than 145,000 metro Chicago residents.  A recipient of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, CIC programs also include Energy Savers, the Troubled Buildings Initiative, The Preservation Compact and Property Management Training. For more information, visit  cicchicago.com .