LCO Housing Awarded WHEDA, Affordable Housing Funds

LIHTC's allow a developer to raise funds toward constructing or renovating homes. Since many of our homes are 30 years or older and in dire need of repairs, we opted to rehab 24 units with the funds raised by the sale of the LIHTC's. Our annual block grant funds allow us to do only the necessary repairs and replacements to maintain our 350+ low rent houses. HUD encourages housing authorities to leverage their funds and LIHTC's are the best way to bring in the much needed capital.

We're also happy to announce that our application to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago's Affordable Housing Program was also funded. This grant will help offset the funds our housing authority is required to contribute to the project.

Our crews started on the project in late October and will have five of the 24 units completed in January. The first five tenants are temporarily relocated to allow the interior to be finished on time. We want to thank those tenants for their cooperation, we know how inconvenient this is for them. The work to be completed includes steel roofs, replacement of siding, windows, interior and exterior doors, flooring, cabinetry and furnaces. All of the homes will have new front and back entry stairs and 12 units will receive ramps. We'll also be restoring the garages, replacing the sidewalks, paving the drives and resloping the yards to provide for proper drainage.

The project will be done in 5 phases with an overall completion date of November 2014.