Latest news with #NeighborhoodRevitalizationProgram
Chicago Tribune
24-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
DuPage to establish community land bank, trust to incentivize more affordable housing
More than two years after forming an ad hoc committee to augment affordable housing, DuPage County is taking a new approach to incentivizing low-cost development. The county is establishing a land bank. Authorized by the DuPage County Board last month, it will essentially put county-owned surplus land on reserve for future affordable housing projects. With DuPage being a virtually built-out county, the idea is to carve out space for more local affordable units by breathing new life into underutilized properties, county staff and officials say. 'People that work in DuPage and contribute to our economic stability (being) able to afford to live and raise their families here seems like it should be a fundamental right, but it's something that we're struggling with,' DuPage County Board Chair Deb Conroy said. 'We want to fix it.' The average median household income in DuPage County as of 2023 was $106,961, according to census data. Meanwhile, as of last month, the median sale price of a home in DuPage was $425,000, per data from Redfin, a national real estate brokerage. As for renters, the typical cost of rent in DuPage County in May was $2,113 a month, a 5.1% year-over-year increase, according to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, which measures changes in asking rents over time. Land banks have existed for a long time, said Paul Hoss, the county's planning and zoning administration coordinator. The concept just hasn't been implemented in DuPage before. The county is, however, uniquely primed to see the idea through. For years, DuPage has been building an inventory of county-owned property through its standing 'Neighborhood Revitalization Program,' which seeks to repair or remove dilapidated or abandoned buildings in unincorporated areas. Through the program, the owner of property in disrepair is given the chance to address issues on their own. If they don't, the county tackles the work and bills the property owner. If the owner abandons the property, the county puts a lien on it. Should that lien go unsatisfied, the county can seek to foreclose and could acquire the property as collateral for the unpaid lien. Alternatively, the county is sometimes just gifted dilapidated property through the program. Either way, DuPage has been able to accrue a 'de facto' inventory of property that can now act as a starting point for a land bank, Hoss said. Not stopping there, the county — hand in hand with establishing a land bank — will also be seeking to partner with a nonprofit community land trust (CLT), per board action taken last month. A community land trust is a similar mechanism to a land bank but instead of property, the CLT manages funds that can be loaned out to developers or property owners for the purpose of developing a certain type of housing that a government is looking for, Hoss said. The board has directed staff to prepare a request for qualifications to seek out a CLT. Both the CLT and land bank are the product of a recent effort to ramp up affordable and attainable housing throughout the county. In March 2023, Conroy established the Ad-Hoc Housing Solutions Committee to further the creation and expansion of DuPage's affordable housing stock. As part of that work, the committee engaged with Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Grounded Solutions Network to partner with the county on its housing strategies and solutions. The effort, an 18-month venture, culminated in a comprehensive housing action plan. 'These folks helped us organize our thoughts and crystallize what we needed to do moving forward,' Hoss said. Grounded Solutions presented its plan at a board meeting earlier this spring, including pitches for a DuPage land bank and trust. District 1 Board Member Sam Tornatore said that since the creation of the Ad-Hoc Housing Solutions Committee, which he co-chairs, 'The progress has been significant.' 'It may not be as quickly as some people would want it, but we had to develop a foundation in order to get where we're at right now,' he said. With the county's new affordable housing strategies, Conroy said she especially hopes to make housing accessible more to the county's 'missing middle,' or those who make too much money to qualify for subsidized housing but not enough to afford market-rate housing or to buy a home. 'It affects (anyone) from college graduates to seniors downsizing to professionals that are in teaching or firefighting or police,' Conroy said. 'You know, those professions which are so important to the fabric of our communities, (they're) struggling to be first-time homeowners … here in DuPage (where) it's difficult to find anything under half a million dollars that has more than two bedrooms and maybe a bath and a half.' Conroy said she's 'incredibly proud of the investment that my board and staff have made into this.' 'It's been a very long process,' she said. 'It's taken a lot of time.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Rock the Block focusing on Terrace Park this year
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – As the weather continues to warm up you might be itching to get some yard work and home improvements done, but for those who might not be able to afford or handle big projects, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls could lend a hand. Two years ago, Lim Bun's house in the Whittier Neighborhood got a little TLC from volunteers with Habitat for Humanity during the 2023 Rock the Block event. Documents reveal details on theft of Noem's purse 'Adding like a mailbox, doing some landscaping and mulching, planting a couple trees,' Bun said. 'It was a myriad of things.' Bun says the work helped tick off some boxes on a growing to-do list. 'Everyone was very energetic, helpful and just really eager make a difference and impact in everything they did for the neighborhood,' Bun said. Rock the Block is a neighborhood revitalization event that Habitat for Humanity puts on every year with a focus on a specific neighborhood. For the last two years, the focus has been on the Whittier Neighborhood but this year, they're turning their attention to the Terrace Park area. 'The goal is to help as many Terrace Park homeowners as we're able to, to do some of those projects that they maybe couldn't do on their own financially or if they're physically not able to do it. We would love to lend a helping hand,' Jadeyn Sjaarda with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls said. Anyone looking to get some help during this year's Rock the Block has until May 4th to apply. 'You need to be a Terrace Park homeowner and meet some of our income guidelines that are on our website. If you apply, you can get help with anything like painting, small home repairs or yard work,' Sjaarda said. 'If you want to see something done in your neighborhood, work with them,' Bun said. 'They're willing to do a lot of the effort, resources. They really care about making a difference in the community and that's always been true with the Habitat people.' Habitat for Humanity is also still looking for volunteers to help out during Rock the Block — for a list of available shifts click here. And if you don't live in the Terrace Park neighborhood but would still like a helping hand on home improvement projects, you can check out their Neighborhood Revitalization Program that's available year-round for homeowners in all of Minnehaha, Lincoln and Turner Counties. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
