Although he`s a native Chicagoan, Michael Lewandowski knew he had a good thing in Elgin and bought it. He got a good deal on his Victorian-style home in the city`s historic district, then used an $8,500 grant to improve its deteriorating exterior.
Lewandowski, a 37-year-old technical writer for Motorola Inc. in Arlington Heights, is one of hundreds who have received assistance moving into the Elgin area through Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), an organization that fosters revitalization of the community by promoting home ownership.
”I saw this happening where older buildings in Chicago were being rehabbed but I couldn`t afford it,” he said. ”When I went out to Elgin, I saw the same scenario, but the prices were better.”
NHS` effort to get people back into some of Elgin`s older neighborhoods is paying off with hundreds of homeowners meticulous in the care of their houses in the historic North Park neighborhood. ”Over the last two years, I see people here painting a lot and really taking care of their homes,”
Lewandowski said.
NHS also helped Douglas Hodge to find a lender so he could purchase a small ranch home for $37,500 on St. Charles Street.
As Hodge says, the home ”definitely needs work,” but just being able to own was worth it.
”I`ve been wanting to buy for the last 10 years, ever since I`d been renting,” Hodge said. ”The Neighborhood Housing Services have been the nicest people to deal with during this whole thing because they genuinely want to see you get a home.”
Both homeowners are among the growing number of success stories where creative solutions have been used to create affordable housing. Yet they are far outnumbered by those who can`t touch anything in the northwest suburbs.
”From my perspective as a real estate agent, I know there is not a whole lot of housing for low-income families. During the last two years, our biggest market has been first-time homebuyers,” said Donna Thomas, president of the Northwest Suburban Association of Realtors, an organization representing 2,200 Realtors.
”Not everybody is going to fall in that $50,000 and above income level. But there are jobs in communities where people are lower paid and they need affordable housing,” she said. ”And if you don`t provide that, you`re not going to have the workforce you need.
”If you expect people to work in your community, then you can`t expect them also to commute 50 miles a day and be a stable, reliable workforce. It just doesn`t work that way,” said Thomas, who is also Inverness village president.
But first-time home buyers aren`t the only group finding it tough to locate affordable housing in the northwest suburbs. Another segment of the population that has cried out loudly in recent years and flexed its political muscle is senior citizens on the low to moderate end of the income spectrum. The northwest suburbs boast only a handful of rental complexes to serve them, which has prompted some communities to aggressively try to construct more of them.
Perhaps more telling are the homeless, who may be more visible on the streets this summer because a seasonal church shelter program is closed until October.
Stuart Wasilowksi, NHS` ardent executive director, said neighborhoods such as his older Elgin North Park district are bouncing back because many buyers seeking starter homes are settling for fixer-uppers. Wasilowski, who came to Elgin four years ago, has put a personal stake in NHS by living in the neighborhood.
”That changes your focus, too, because if I fail, I`m going to suffer personally,” he said. ”If I succeed, I will benefit personally, so it`s in my best interest to make things work.”
NHS offers help to prospective buyers through several programs, most of which are tied to income guidelines. There is also a program aimed at rehabbing houses, such as Lewandowski`s, which is not income related.
Since its start in 1981, NHS has helped put nearly 200 homes in good hands and has secured $2.6 million in loans, most of which are channeled through Elgin banks. Nonetheless, Wasilowksi still hears from droves of would- be buyers who don`t qualify for a variety of reasons.
”One thing that is very discouraging is when you get people who are contributing members of the community, they`re working 40 hours a week, they`ve got a couple of kids, but they can`t afford to live here. That to me is not right and is not fair,” he said.
The danger in squeezing people out is in creating homogenous neighborhoods, which contributes to segregated communities and bad feelings, Wasilowski said.
Similarly, the Des Plaines-based Minority Economic Resources Corporation
(MERC) sees available housing far outdistanced by need. MERC helps minorities and females find housing through counseling and referrals and by helping banks determine credit needs of communities.
The group`s housing director, Loren Buford, said a good portion of her clients are reaching the suburbs because of a housing assistance program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In an effort to integrate communities, the program, named the Gautreaux Assisted Housing Program, requires participants to live in areas with a minority population of less than 30 percent.
”It is becoming more of a melting pot all over and people need to realize that,” Buford said.
To do that, housing experts agree there are some barriers to break down about perceptions of affordable housing.
”From a municipality`s point of view, they don`t want cheap housing. Well, affordable housing does not have to be cheap,” said David Hill, president of Rolling Meadows-based Kimball Hill Inc., a major housing developer building both affordable and higher-bracket housing in five counties, including Cook, Kane and McHenry.
”It`s a question of educating (people) about the difference between a suburban low-rise-properly coordinated and planned and properly overseen-versus a monstrosity like the federal government-created Cabrini Green (in Chicago),” Hill said.
Hill, who is also active with the newly formed Northwest Housing Partnership, traced the shortage of affordable housing back to 1979 when the Rust Belt recession cut into builders` profits.
”That was the incredible awareness that, very clearly, there was something tremendously wrong with the ability of the private market to supply housing in my own backyard,” Hill said.
Businesses that have invested millions in new sprawling suburban office complexes are starting to realize the same and are joining with other interests to address the problem, according to Laura Davis, executive director of the Northwest Suburban Association of Commerce and Industry. As an example, Motorola is part of the Northwest Housing Partnership Board.
”The housing out here is extremely expensive, so businesses need to address that if they haven`t already done so,” Davis said.
However, Thomas of the Realtors group said there is still a long way to go.
”I don`t think municipalities have stood back and said, `Housing is a real serious concern in our community.` And you do meet with some resistance when you tell people that you do have some needs,” said Thomas. ”I see a broad spectrum of things we could be doing. There are resources out there to be tapped, and if we only pick one or two, we could be very successful.”
