South Suburban Housing Center

Housing counseling program: primarily funded by multiple small dollar grants and fundraising activities. Includes the provision of the following comprehensive hud-certified housing counseling activities: individual one-on-one rental and homeless referrals; pre- and post-purchase homeownership counseling; mortgage delinquency and foreclosure counseling; as well as group counseling activities including home buyer workshops, financial literacy workshops and foreclosure assistance and mortgage fraud awareness workshops. For fiscal year 2024, counseling services were provided to 1,136 individuals and families, of which 165 were facing foreclosure, 459 seeking rental/homeless referrals and 187 seeking to purchase a home, resulting in 86 new homeowners and 62 homes saved through mortgage modifications. Over 325 individuals attended 24 workshops and webinars. In addition to the individual counseling services provided, as a partner agency for the illinois housing development authority's (ihda) court based renal assistance program (cbrap), which ran through june 2024, we directly assisted 133 renters and 26 landlords respectively, apply for these emergency assistance grants. Approximately 675 individuals attended two (2) in-person events, two hundred thirty (230) individuals attended three (3) webinars and over thirty-five thousand individuals (35,000) were informed of this rental assistance program through ongoing outreach emails and social media posts. The general characteristics of the clients we served, per our fy24 hud- 9902, are 85% racial minority and 87% below the 80% area median income (ami) threshold.

Inclusive community grant program: substantially funded by a 2013 conciliation agreement. Phase two of the grant program, which provides grants to existing homeowners in mortgage distress in targeted communities hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, was launched in the 1st quarter of 2016. One (1) grant was provided to a distressed homeowner in our targeted communities in 2024, for a total of 15,000, allowing the grant recipient to avoid losing their home to foreclosure or property tax sale. Two (2) grants were provided to housing choice voucher holders for assistance with their security deposits totaling 1,199. The down payment assistance component of our icf program was revitalized by the landmark 2022 fannie mae settlement, allowing us to re-fund the program with 1,208,000. The program provides up to 15,000 in down payment assistance as a five-year forgivable grant. The south suburban chicago phased closed in 2023 with 605,250 in grant assistance provided. The northwest indiana phase of the down payment assistance grant program launched in gary, in. In 2024. Five (5) grants were awarded to buyers totaling 55,000. To date, this program has generated 10,254,499 in real estate sales transactions, which in turn facilitated 6,630,000 in local economic impact.