South Suburban Housing Center

Comprehensive fair Housing enforcement program: substantially funded by three hud fair Housing initiatives program (fhip) grants. The grant projects encompassed the following activities: complaint intake and investigation; formal complaint processing and filing; informal dispute resolution, fair Housing advocacy for distressed protected class families; fair Housing stability assistance for covid-19 economically affected families, and a host of education, outreach, and training activities. For program year 2023, the organization processed 221 complaint intakes, conducted 125 test part investigations in 38 communities; continued to litigate 2 formal federal court actions and filed 5 new administrative complaints alleging violations of the fair Housing act; provided fair Housing stability assistance to 155 covid-19 distressed renters and homeowners, successfully resolved 14 enforcement actions and formed partnerships with 21 local/national organizations and governments bodies to achieve these accomplishments. Education and outreach program accomplishments include: conducting 16 large group virtual fair housing/lending workshop sessions attended by 974 individuals; mass social media distribution of fair housing/lending and Housing assistance information to 824,910 users; 750,689 impressions from mobile ad campaigns on new fair Housing protections; attracting 41,820 fair Housing or lending information visits to our website; and implementing an outdoor multi-media interstate billboard and mass transit bus fair Housing advertisement campaign creating 17,808,239 impressions.

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. Sixteen (16) grants were provided to distressed homeowners in nine (9) targeted communities in 2023, for a total of 163,971, allowing the grant recipients to avoid losing their home to foreclosure or property tax sales. 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 South Suburban chicago phase launched in march 2023. The program offered up to 15,000 in down payment assistance provided as a five-year forgivable grant. Sixty (60) grants were awarded to buyers in twenty-three (23) South Suburban chicago area communities totaling 605,205, which in turn facilitated 9,465,999 in real estate transactions. The northwest Indiana phase of the down payment assistance grant program is scheduled to launch in 2024.

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 2023, counseling services were provided to 1,729 individuals and families, of which 529 were facing foreclosure, 392 seeking rental/homeless referrals, 1 receiving post- purchase guidance, and 280 seeking to purchase a home, resulting in 145 new homeowners and 256 homes saved through mortgage modifications or haf program assistance. Over 527 individuals attended 24 workshops and webinars. In addition to the individual counseling services provided, as a partner agency for both the Illinois Housing development authority's (ihda) rental payment program (rpp) and homeowner's assistance fund (haf), we directly assisted 242 renters and 373 homeowners respectively, apply for these emergency assistance grants. Approximately 4,647 print flyers were distributed at multiple events and municipal locations throughout the 34 plus communities that comprise our primary service area regarding these programs. Approximately 1,003 individuals attended nine (9) in-person events, seven hundred fifty-four (754) individuals attended three (3) webinars and thousands of clients were informed of these rental and homeowner assistance programs through ongoing outreach emails and social media posts. The general characteristics of the clients we served, per our fy23 hud- 9902, are 86% african american and 88% below the 80% area median income (ami) threshold.