Action Now gains support for plan to rehab abandoned buildings ...

An empty home sits?in the 600 block of North Long Ave.

Once owned by Rickie P. Brown Sr., it foreclosed in 2007?a result of the bank?s predatory loan practices after?refinancing it, Brown said.

?Our house is still there. It?s deteriorating,? Brown, president of the ?West Side Historical Society?said. ?Instead of banks just working with us ? They let [the house] just go.?

Brown?s home remains vacant, like some 32,000 buildings reported across Chicago, according to city data. Of reports made to Chicago?s 311 service, the area with the second greatest number of vacant and abandoned buildings?is Austin ? the 24th, 28th, 29th and 37th wards.

To help alleviate the issue of abandoned buildings, Action Now launched its?Rebuild Chicago campaign over the summer. The plan, which was modified last month, outlines a three-part process to rehab vacant buildings into rental properties. To gain support?for the initiative, the group is holding meetings?Oct. 18 and Oct. 25?on the South and West Sides. According to a press release, more than 1,000 have sent RSVPs to attend.

?Vacant buildings are a haven for crime?dead bodies; children get assaulted,? said Aileen Kelleher, communications director for Action Now,?the Chicago-based?1,500 member nonprofit advocacy group. ?It?s a really big issue that community residents find.?

Aside from narcotics and other criminal or disorder activity,troubled buildings?is the third-most reported community concern in Austin, according to data on the 15th District Police Department?s Clearpath portal..

The?group plans to establish?a three-part model?for?lending institutions and the?City of Chicago?to donate?real estate owned properties?to the Chicago Housing Trust, a non-profit group whose mission is to meet the permanent housing needs of low-income residents. The properties?will be lent?to developers and investors to be rehabilitated under a?10-year agreement?requiring?investors?to rent the properties at affordable rates to low-income residents. After 10 years, the Chicago Trust Fund?will cease?to be the owner and the original lender will reclaim the properties.

Back of Rickie P. Brown Sr.'s house. By Carlos Bolan

?These properties ? often sit for years and have a deleterious effect on neighborhoods,? said an Action Now press release. ?Converting [real-estate owned] vacancies in Chicago into rental properties will improve the values of nearby homes and have a higher yield to economic growth than would selling the properties.?

The issue of vacant buildings being a magnet for crime has already gotten the attention of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Over the summer, the mayor?s office touted its 100th demolition of a building as part of an initiative to crack down on gang activity in and around them. While the initiative, announced in July, was to?comprise of?only the Grand Crossing, Englewood, Chicago Lawn, Ogden and Harrison districts, it was modified to?add the Wentworth, South Chicago, Calumet and Austin districts.

?Since early July, the police and buildings department have worked together to reduce the number of vacant and hazardous properties that present a danger to some of our neighborhoods,? the mayor said in a press release. ?By demolishing these buildings, we are preventing them from serving as hubs of illegal activity and eliminating a blight on our communities.?

Many community members; however, are at odds with Emanuel over his demolition plans and say his priorities aren?t in places like Austin.

?We have a mayor who would rather spend money in Downtown? said Action Now?s?Kelleher. ?Stop demolishing vacant buildings and instead implement the plan we have in place.?

The mayor?s office declined to comment on this story.

To find out more about Rebuild Chicago, residents can attend the first meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 18 at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, 6600 S. Hermitage Ave.? A second meeting is planned on the West Side at 6 p.m. Oct. 25 at Penn Elementary, 1616 S. Avers Ave.

Visit the website for more information.

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Tagged as: abandoned, Action Now, Austin, building, Chicago, crisis, empty, Foreclosure, house, housing, initiative, plan, program, Rebuild Chicago, West Side

Source: http://austintalks.org/2012/10/action-now-launches-plan-to-rehab-abandoned-buildings/

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