How a West-Side family has used their home to create community and connection
Since the Great Migration, the West Side has welcomed thousands of Black Americans searching for a new place to call home
By DELANEY NELSON and FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ Special Projects Reporters
For generations, West Side families have called home communities like Garfield Park, North Lawndale, and Austin. In this series, we talk to longtime West Side residents about the meaning of living, owning, and staying on the West Side.
AUSTIN
Felicia Oliver has lived with her family in Austin for around 40 years. In her Austin home, near the intersection of North Menard Avenue and West Washington Boulevard, Oliver said she and her husband created a safe, thriving and strong place for opportunity, for her family and for the community
Aisha Oliver, Felicia’s first-born daughter, said she remembers moving into the house in 8th grade. Oliver is also an occasional columnist for Austin Weekly News. Some of her core memories were made within the home’s walls, on the front porch and in the backyard, where family, friends and neighbors continue to gather.
In many ways, Aisha said, that home shaped who she is and how she shows up for the community. She still lives in Austin, just a walk away from her family home.
In an interview with Austin Weekly News, Aisha and Felicia Oliver shared the hurdles and value of owning a home in Austin, and, perhaps more importantly, what the significance means for the family.
The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
AWN: How did you find this home?
Felicia: When we started our homeownership process, we were living in my aunt’s building [on the West Side]. It was a family building. They were getting older and we wanted to give
them a home — I think that’s everyone’s dream, or at least, I think it’s most Americans’ dream to have home ownership. So we started this process.
We found a realtor and we had only looked at three houses, literally. I remember when we went to see the homes, this was the last one. And I remember walking through, and, you know how you just know when something is it? We were like, “OK this is it.” It had enough space.
One of the things that we knew was that we wanted to give our kids somewhere to call their own. So we came from LeClaire Courts in the projects, left there, and went to my aunt’s building, and from there, to our own home, and we’ve been here ever since.
AWN: What was it like moving into this home in 8th grade?
Aisha: I am the oldest of all my siblings. So, I was old enough to know what was going on. We’re really family-oriented, so we’ve always been around our relatives in some capacity. Even when we lived in the projects, the rest of my family lived two blocks away, so our entire family was in one neighborhood, one community. I never felt like we were being taken out of space and thrown into something new, because I knew wherever I went, my family was close by. We moved into a space where it was community
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Felicia Oliver (at right) and her daughter Aisha sit on the steps of their family home on Wednesday July 3, 2024.
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Moving into the house, it was exciting as a kid, because now we’re in this space that’s totally ours. We’re coming from my brother and I sharing rooms, we were bunk-bed kids, those are core memories for us. At night, you get to talk to your brother about everything he did during the day. Going into the house, immediately my brother was like, “I’ll take in the whole attic, that’s my room.” My mother did my sister’s room in pink and purple, super girly.
My father immediately jumped into maintaining the property. I mean, grass cutting, hedges cut. Maintaining it is very much generational, because we understand what it took to get the homes and how family helped family
That transition was really a core memory for me because I know what it took for my parents to get that house for us. I saw my mom stressing. I probably never told her, but I saw how they were really pulling strings to get through the home-buying process. Kids listen when you think they’re not listening. Sometimes, my mom would cry because they would be so close and then felt like they hit a brick wall.
But, in my opinion, it was bigger than the house. My parents are extremely passionate about giving us what they didn’t have. So, in my mind, it was like hell or high water, they were giving us that house, that home. And it was bigger than that because as soon as my parents got the house, not only do we get our space — our cousins were there every weekend, our friends wer there every weekend. My parents are the all-thekids-want-to-go-to-their-house type of family
I know it’s generational because my son told me two days ago that he wants to be the grandfather that has the big house and all his grandkids want to come there — because that’s what he knows of his grandpa. That’s what he saw his grandfather do.
AWN: How does home ownership shape West Side families and their history in the neighborhood?
Aisha: I’ve been organizing since I was 19. Watching my parents buy their first home, and once we got in the house, really made me think about my great-grandmother. At one point, our whole family lived in that one house when I was a little kid. You had close to about 20 people living in this one space—my great-grandparents, my grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, my mom, her sisters, and her cousins. And then they started having kids, us.
As I got older, I realized my grandmother came here from Mississippi at age 17. They lived in the projects, moved to other projects, and then bought their first home. They raised their family in the home that she still lives in, to this day. So a lot of my organizing is really empowered behind the struggles that I’ve seen in my own family, but I also recognize that there is a lack of education in Black communities. It’s truly structural if we’re being completely honest – it’s very much structural and economic. I think about the things that I saw them go through silently and it made me go do things so that I wouldn’t have to go through the same thing.
It was a confirmation of being raised in love. My parents had [me] at 16. They had us really young. As the firstborn, I pay close attention to how much compassion and effort my parents put into making sure that they can give their children what they didn’t have and then turned around and gave it to their grandchildren the same way They are the epitome of the born-and-bredand-raised on the West Side. They are the epitome of wanting to continue that legacy by passing it on to their children first and teaching us, showing us how to do it — and then opening up that space so that not only do we get the experience of growing up in the home, but all of our friends who were still living in the projects could come to our house and be able to stay there for three or four days — that was life-changing for them.
AWN: What are some challenges you faced during your homeownership journey, and what tips do you have for prospective home buyers?
Felicia: The first tip I would really recommend, knowing what I know now and actually living through it is, making sure that you save — and not just for the home. The upkeep of the home when things break, when things happen, you can’t call your landlord. You are the landlord. You have to have money set aside for incidentals. We learned that the hard way. We came out of an apartment into a home — my parents didn’t have a home. As [Aisha] was saying, each generation wants to see the next generation do better. But the
backlash of that is when you don’t have the education to do so. You want to do better than your parents, but if there is no one to educate you on the process, that makes it harder, even though you might have saved the money and you might have gotten the home. When you need things done around the house, you have to do all those things yourself because you’re the owner. We ended up learning that, but it took a while. We didn’t have the know-how, we just knew we had this huge home.
So I will tell people [to] not only plan for the purchase, but make sure you put money aside every pay period, or however you want to do it. Get on a budget. Budgeting is key, that way you don’t feel as overwhelmed.
Make sure you take a homeowner’s class. Make sure you are financially prepared for the down payment and for what comes after the down payment. After you move in, make sur you are prepared, place yourself in some organized groups where you are constantly educating yourself about this process, even after the process, after the closing. You want to make sure you stay connected to others that could give you wise counsel. The whole housing process is so overwhelming. I’ve seen so many people lose their homes for not knowing that they have to pay the property taxes, and you could end up losing your home for pennies on the dollar. So just making sure that you know all of what it entails, and not just going and thinking, “Oh, I got this house.” There’s a lot that comes with homeownership
AWN: What can West Side families do to ensure they can own or preserve a home in the community they have long called home?
Aisha: I haven’t bought a property, but I take a free homebuyers class every so often. I’ve been certified by Neighborhood Housing Services twice. I was taking classes when I was in my 20s just because I knew how hard it was for my parents, and I always aspired to have a home in this community I’ve taken the classes at least three times, even though at those times, I was nowhere near ready to purchase a home.
AWN: Why is seeking homebuyers’ education a priority for any West Side neighbor who wants to own a home?
Aisha: I come from a family that prioritizes education because they [my parents] were not
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The large backyard of Felicia Oliver’s home on July 3, 2024.
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Felicia Oliver
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Aisha Oliver
Thinking about renovating a home? These are some numbers you need to know
No matter the reason a homeowner pursues home renovations, knowing what to expect will ensure their home ownership experience is successful, according to West Side realtor Shantel Franklin.
In Chicago, 43% of renovating homeowners went over their renovation budgets in 2023, according to data provided to Austin Weekly News by Houzz. The main reason renovating homeowners exceeded their budgets was unanticipated costs. In 2022, home improvement project spending increased to $472 billion, up from $328 billion in 2019, according to the Joint Center for Housing Centers of Harvard University
Before you start renovating, West Side-based realtor Shantel Franklin advises you to take a look at the costs — including the ones you might not expect. Knowing your budget and timeline is key to preventing a home renovation from becoming a nightmare.
“A realtor is definitely going to help you find a
able to go to college, they were not able to do certain things. You know what I mean? They were teenage parents. But, I know there are answers out there because my greatgrandparents had less education than they did, but they bought a home and raised generations in it.
It’s about making that a priority because that’s not something that is just passed on. It’s not like they’re teaching financial literacy, homebuyers’ education and taxes in schools. We have to really understand that a lot of that education is not a fair game and no one’s gonna come in and teach it to us. It has to be a responsibility to make education a priority and pass that on so we don’t have to continue to struggle, finding out the hard way and learning the hard way.
Felicia: I am especially focused on financial literacy in this community for that reason. In order to sustain even just paying your rent and preparing you for homeownership, you need a level of financial literacy. I feel a strong pull, now more than ever, to teach it at a younger age — we should be teaching kids how money works, how to create a small budget and how to invest.
home or a property in general that you will want to rehab, but (they’re) going to rely heavily on the buyer in terms of knowing their numbers, what they’re trying to do, their capacity to do it and their timeline,” Franklin said
AWN: From your perspective, why is owning and keeping a home vital to preserving West Side culture and community?
Aisha: When longtime homeowners pass and there’s nobody to take up the responsibility, these homes are going to be sold to somebody who doesn’t understand not just the value of that home, but the value of the community that the home is in. That’s the key
When they sold and repainted the pink house on North Central Avenue, that was heartbreaking for people who lived in this community. You have no clue what that home meant not only to the family that lived there but, to the families that grew up around it. It signified you were in Austin; you knew you were on the West Side.
Felicia: We should have more people saving their families’ homes. Their grandparents worked hard coming from the south to the north and planting [roots] in this city. I have so many friends and neighbors who lost their parents’ home and grandparents’ homes because they didn’t have the tools and the right information — not because they didn’t want it, but because they were devoid of knowledge.
Austin is already transitioning, and my con-
cern is that many will lose their homes. Many will sell without understanding what they have in their hands. Austin is historically a beautiful and strong community, but it’s shifting. When
you know the backstory to something that your family worked hard for, it fuels you to say, “No, I’m gonna keep it and do whatever I can do to keep what we have in our bloodline.”
Felicia Oliver and her daughter Aisha in the dining room of their family home.
Spanish Coalition for Housing hosts 23rd annual housing exposition
By DELANEY NELSON Special Projects Reporter
Around 400 people attended Spanish Coalition for Housing’s annual “Camino a Su Casa” homeownership exposition, which connected
prospective homebuyers with housing counselors, banks, real estate agents and government officials.
The event provided free credit checks to the first 60 attendees, and hosted homebuyer workshops and over 30 exhibitors.
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Derenda Bradley of Chicago adds her contact information to Home Loans Officer with Self Help Mortgage Yesmin Ramierz during the Camino A Su Casa Housing Expo in Chicago June 22, 2024.
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Chicago Hosing Trust Project Coordinator for Marketing and Community Outreach, Cassandra Sneed helps answer questions from Victoria Lara and Desiree Diaz of Oak Lawn during the Camino A Su Casa Housing Expo.
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Valerie and Loronzo Young of Chicago get home ownership tips from US Bank Loan Officer Jose Chavez during the Camino A Su Casa Housing Expo held
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HUD Housing Counselor, Jeanette Rodriguez provide a housing workshop to people att held in Chicago Saturday June 22 , 2024.
People including Vincent Ledesma of Chicago receive brochures, bags and resources from vendors including Housing Loan Officer Giovanny Gonzalez during the Camino A Su Casa Housing Expo.