For the first time ever as a developer, IFF received two Affordable Housing Program grants for Home First. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago’s AHP funds will help to give people with disabilities both choice and dignity in their everyday life through integrated, community-based housing options.
Through Home First, IFF develops and owns accessible and affordable housing for people with disabilities. The $1.4 million in AHP grants will help to finance the next phase of Home First, creating a combined 104 integrated housing units across 49 sites in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood and west suburban Cook County.
“Making housing a reality for all is some of the most important work we do,” IFF CEO Joe Neri said. “One of our tenants — a couple who signed their lease this past October — spent 18 months trying to get out of a nursing facility. They had very little money and feared they would be locked away forever. But we were able to help, and their home in Chicago’s McKinley Park is part of the first phase of our Home First initiative.”
One of IFF’s efforts to help the state of Illinois fulfill the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Home First also is a partner program with ADA 25 Chicago, a network of civic partners that formed to honor and advance the law’s 25th anniversary this year. Since 2011, IFF has secured $49.24 million in grants, loans, and tax credit equity to develop 236 integrated units across 90 sites in 18 cities.
Additionally, in partnership with IFF, eight affordable housing projects in Illinois and Wisconsin received AHP grants totaling $5.1 million. The amount is the highest awarded through any single FHLBC member in 2015. Read the full release here.