Area Communities Work Together to Create Affordable Housing Options

Effort between Bellwood, Berwyn, Forest Park, Maywood and Oak Park and was created to address the high foreclosure rates in Maywood and Bellwood.

Seven affordable homes are now for sale in Maywood and Bellwood, the West Cook County Housing Collaborative has announced. The homes, six in Bellwood and one in Maywood, will be made affordable to buyers with incomes at or below eighty percent of the area's median income. A down payment subsidy of up to $10,000 will also be provided. This program is an effort between Bellwood, Berwyn, Forest Park, Maywood and Oak Park and was created to address the high foreclosure rates in these communities. In addition, 21 homes will be available in Maywood, Bellwood and Forest Park by the end of 2013.  Call Marz Timms at  708-771-5801 for more information.

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Comcast Project Under Way

Affordable housing project on target for completion next fall.

Work has begun on turning the long-vacant Comcast building into 51 units of affordable housing. Crews have been tearing off the fake facade around the whole building and some interior work has been done, said Craig Failor, Oak Park's planner. The Interfaith Housing Development Corp. obtained a permit to start the rehab at 442 S. Grove Ave. on Sept. 14, said Steve Witt, Oak Park's director of property and building standards. The project is on target for completion next summer and full occupancy is expected next October, said Perry Vietti, Interfaith's chief operating officer. "We have not lost any time," Vietti said. "We're still on track." Low income tax credits will cover most of the project's $15 million price tag. This was a …

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Initial State Funding Denied for Madison Street Development

Illinois Housing Development Authority rejects application from Oak Park developers, but door remains open for more state funding on controversial affordable housing project.

Week in Review: May 27

Rounding up the best in local news.

We can't be everywhere and neither can you. The "Week in Review" is designed to bring you up to speed on local news in Oak Park and River Forest. Let's get to it: All Over But the Shouting: The Oak Park Village Board on Monday approved a controversial affordable housing project near the corner of Madison Street and Oak Park Avenue. The board voted 6 to 1, with Trustee John Hedges casting the lone "no" vote. Meanwhile, On Lake Street: Plans for the glitzy hotel and condo tower at Lake Street and Forest Avenue could be scaled back to instead include dwellings for senior citizens and luxury apartments for high-end tenants. Let Them Eat Sandwiches: And relax while studying or catching up with a good book. That's right, beginning June 1 the Oak…

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Oak Park Trustees Approve Comcast Project

Controversy over affordable housing project settled with 6-1 vote.

A long vacant building on one of Oak Park’s major thoroughfares will become a site for affordable housing. The village board on Monday voted 6-1 to back the height, density and parking variances the Interfaith Housing Development Corp. and the Oak Park Housing Authority requested to develop the property at 820-832 Madison St. In approving the findings of fact drawn up by the plan commission, trustees added no extra conditions to the 21 the developers would have to meet to get a building permit. The project, which has been under consideration for months, would allow low-income wage earners, seniors and people with disabilities who currently live and work in Oak Park to remain in the community and get a variety of supportive services through…

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Oak Park Trustees Visit Housing Sites

Village officials eschew Comcast project concerns, focus on "learning and listening."

If you’re getting ready to make a big decision, you take to the streets to listen and learn as much as you can – even on the weekend. That’s what Oak Park officials did Saturday, touring through two Chicago sites built by Interfaith Housing Development Corporation, the agency looking to convert the long-vacant Comcast building into a 51-unit affordable housing project. Oak Park trustees Glenn Brewer, John Hedges and Village President David Pope and newly seated trustee Robert Tucker were accompanied by two other village officials, and as it was a public meeting, the tour attracted four residents and two members of the media. The road tour visited Sanctuary Place, a 63-unit single-room-occupancy building at 642 N. Kedzie Ave., which serves …

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Oak Park Affordable Housing Project to Get Public Hearing

First forum on proposed Madison Street development scheduled for Dec. 16.

A controversial affordable housing development proposed for the long-empty Comcast building on Madison Street will get its first formal public hearing next month before the Oak Park Plan Commission. The session, slated for Dec. 16 at 7 p.m., will not be the last. At Monday's Village Board meeting, trustees unanimously decided to move the project forward, acknowledging that the commission will need to hold several hearings and review reports from a variety of village departments before gathering  testimony and writing a recommendation — all of which could take months.  "This needs a fair and forthright hearing before it comes back to us," Trustee Ray Johnson said. Residents will also have a chance to weigh in at a series of forthcoming …

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