IIT is offering down payment assistance to help employees buy homes in the new mixed- income community replacing the former Chicago Housing Authority Stateway Gardens development.
The Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), located on Chicago's South Side, announced a new employer-assisted housing (EAH) initiative in April 2003. Seeking to bolster redevelopment of neighboring Stateway Gardens, a high rise public housing development slated for demolition and transformation into mixed-income housing, IIT will offer employees a $7,500 forgivable loan to buy homes in the new community. "This is a tremendous opportunity for our faculty and staff to invest in an exciting, new residential development, right in our own backyard," said IIT President Lew Collens. The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) is working with IIT and the developer to design and implement a simple, straightforward EAH program incorporating the university's assistance and homeownership education. Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2004, and units will be available starting in 2005.
MPC, seeing a unique opportunity to support the redevelopment of Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) properties around the city, will help introduce employer-assisted housing to other nearby employers. MPC will help support the success of the new mixed-income communities by encouraging local employers to support their employees in buying homes and investing in the communities in which they work. Employers can benefit by increasing employee productivity, reducing turnover, and strengthening their business through a stronger, more stable community. The CHA's mixed-income sites aim to serve former public housing residents, moderate-income households, and market-rate owners and renters within the same development. Employer participation can promote that integration by encouraging the investment of moderate-income and market-rate households in the redeveloping communities. This will be an important step in undoing the historic isolation of low-income public housing residents.
Click here (then scroll down) for IIT's newsletter article, "Tremendous Response to 'Park Boulevard' Development: Dozens of employees express interest in IIT employer assisted housing program."
Click here for more information about MPC's public housing work.
Click here for more information about employer-assisted housing.