Uptown's voice of the people partners with preservation of affordable housing by Suzanne Hanney
Voice of the People in Uptown will preserve almost 200 units of affordable housing through a new partnership with the national non-profit Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH). “Quality property management, tenant services, and long-term affordability is what our organization is about,” Voice President Maurice Hamp said July 29 in prepared material on its website. In this new partnership, Boston-based POAH helps make it possible by leveraging its experience in financing and property management.
Mother and child at Lakeview Towers, 4550 N. Clarendon. Photography by Thom Clark. Graphic design by Christopher Rohrbeck.
POAH bought four properties in Uptown and one in Bridgeport from the Chicago Community Development Corporation (CCDC), a long-time affordable housing investor. The Voice/Uptown properties include: • Clifton Magnolia, 59 units at 4416-22 N. Clifton and 4416-26 N. Magnolia Ave. • Hazel Winthrop, 30 units at 4426 N. Magnolia, 852-54 W. Sunnyside Ave., 4813-15 N. Winthrop and 912-14 W. Montrose Ave. • Sunnyside Kenmore, 26 units at 847-49 W. Sunnyside and 4130 N. Kenmore Ave. • Uptown Preservation Association, 77 units at 4431 N. Clifton Ave., 900 W. Windsor Ave. and 927 W. Wilson Ave. POAH paid $2.4 million for the properties and assumed about $6.6 million of first mortgage debt and $27 million of public debt issued through the City and Illinois Housing Development Authority, according to a story in Crain’s carried on the POAH website. The buildings include 109 Section 8 units, for which the federal government has continued to pay rents during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent layoffs. In Bridgeport, POAH acquired the 55-unit Archer Avenue Senior Residences at 2928 S. Archer Ave. Officials at the 50-year-old Voice say they found a successor-partner with a shared sense of priorities in POAH. Voice supports POAH in financing and property management, while connecting tenants to resources, programs, and opportunities. While Voice has strong connections with Chicago housing and service providers, the partnership with POAH opens up a national network of successful developments and learning opportunities. “POAH is delighted to partner with Voice to preserve this housing as affordable for the long term in the face of rapidly rising rents and dwindling opportunities,” said Bill Eager, POAH’s Senior VP in the Midwest. “Voice’s roots in the community and experience with the residents, combined with our ownership and property management approach,
make for a great team. Hopefully, we can build on this partnership to preserve additional affordable assets in the years to come.” This year’s campaign at Voice is called “Sweet Home Upt ow n ,” “where we look back at a storied history, but also forward to how we can continue to sustain affordable housing and economic diversity,” said Mike Rohrbeck, Voice executive director. “This new partnership models what needs to happen more broadly in our community and throughout the city.” In the past year, Voice had restructured programs, financed improvements and completed energy upgrades to the three properties in the Uptown Preservation Project, with financing and support of the Community Investment Corporation (CIC). The strategy was part of a planned transition of properties control from CCDC to a “new partner of national prominence,” according to its website. “I’m pleased that this new partnership will continue to assure Voice’s historic role in the preservation of affordable housing and advocacy for low income families in the Uptown community for the next 50 years” stated Tony Fusco of CCDC. “In these difficult times, their ‘VOICE’ is needed now more than ever.” During his tenure, Fusco and CCDC made possible the preservation of thousands of units of affordable housing in Chicago and Illinois, including, with Voice’s help, the 500unit, resident-controlled Lakeview Towers development in Uptown. POAH entered Chicago in 2008 with an acquisition in Woodlawn. The Uptown properties are its first on the north lakefront, and its Chicago portfolio now includes more than 2000 apartments in 10 Chicago neighborhoods such as Austin and Grand Boulevard, and suburban Harvey and Elgin.
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