The Hyde Park - Kenwood Coalition for Equitable Community Development wants your input! Your feedback will help us better understand community needs and guide future planning and resource allocation.

What are your thoughts on housing, safety, education, and other issues in our neighborhood? We've put together a quick survey. Please participate now!

Source: US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, April 1, 2024

Chicago faces a huge gap between the supply of affordable rental housing and the need for affordable rental housing, based on the mix of income levels in the city.  Chicago has about 120,000 fewer units of affordable rental housing than it needs. (Source:  Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University)
 
Lower income families have several ways of securing rental housing that is affordable to them:

• Income-restricted rental housing. Housing available only to lower income families, with rents typically set to be affordable to families earning no more than 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI)
• Naturally-occurring affordable housing. The concern is that as a community gentrifies, rents increase and become less affordable to lower income families.
• Housing Choice Vouchers (formerly called section 8 vouchers). Voucher holders pay 30% of their household income for rent, with the balance paid by the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA).  The CHA serves about 47,000 voucher holders.  Vouchers are only available to families that earn less than 80% of the AMI.  The waiting list to obtain a voucher is years-long.

In 2024, the Coalition for Equitable and Community Development (CECD) was featured in two Hyde Park Herald articles.

In December, the Herald covered the CHA's homeownership program, which was outlined in a meeting co-hosted by CECD: www.hpherald.com/evening_digest/the-cha-homeownership-program-explained/article_561cd88c-b0fe-11ef-a67a-ab0f1a47e6d0.html

​In May, the Herald covered a meeting that CECD co-hosted about the need for affordable senior housing: https://www.hpherald.com/evening_digest/advocates-community-members-dig-into-hyde-parks-need-for-affordable-senior-housing/article_7085eb90-1163-11ef-a0b3-33b4062afa85.html

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Feb. 9 forum for 4th and 5th ward aldermanic candidates about affordable housing.

The Hyde Park Herald posted an article that we encourage you to read that covers the event and the candidates' responses. You can also watch a recording of the entire event (in two parts) on YouTube:

Saturday, February 9th,
10 a.m. to noon
Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer
4945 S. Dorchester (enter via parking lot)

The Coalition for Equitable Community Development will host a forum featuring candidates for alderman in the 4th and 5th wards.

The format will be a 3 minute opening statement by each candidate, followed by 3 questions from the CECD board regarding affordable housing (with 2 minutes to address to each question), followed by questions from the audience.

The event is free to attend. We hope to see you there!

CECD board members Linda Thisted, Gary Ossewaarde, Joe Marlin, David Nekimken, and Rahsaan Morris appeared with other members of the Coalition for a Modern Metra Electric at the December 2018, Metra board meeting. The group asked Metra to release its study with a cost estimate for transforming the Modern Metra Electric into a rapid transit system. Several weeks later, Metra made the study public!

Learn more at the Coalition for a Modern Metra Electric.