“While there are many unique housing needs, everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. Financial institutions like FHLBank Chicago, community developers like IFF, and state housing agencies like IHDA understand our communities’ needs and play a major role in providing necessary resources and funding for these important projects. We should continue to have these conversations to help offer solutions to common barriers.”
– Rep. Sean Casten (IL-06)
On Thursday, August 29, 2024, IFF Chief of Staff José Cerda III and Director of Public Policy Molly Smith joined leaders from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBank Chicago) and Illinois Housing Development Authority for a discussion with Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) centered around the barriers, challenges, and solutions to housing needs in the Chicago metro area and beyond. The discussion was held at Union Avenue Apartments in Orland Park, IL, which provides affordable rental housing and supportive services to residents with disabilities. Opened in 2022, the 24,000-square-foot facility with 13 one-bedroom apartments and three two-bedroom apartments was developed by nonprofit Sertoma Star Services with the help of a $192,180 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from FHLBank Chicago for which IFF served as the project sponsor.
Since 2011, IFF has sponsored 67 AHP applications that have provided affordable housing developers in Illinois and Wisconsin with more than $33.5 million in funding to bridge gaps in complex capital stacks to ensure that housing projects can be completed while maintaining affordable rent levels for residents unable to pay market rate. IFF-sponsored projects have collectively created or preserved 2,760 affordable housing units, helping to reduce the gap between the supply of affordable housing and existing demand in the Midwest.
To learn more about Rep. Casten’s visit to the Union Avenue Apartments, watch the video below from FHLBank Chicago.
