Two Waukegan houses that were once foreclosed on will get another chance to become someone’s home.
The city purchased the properties last month, and the Community Block Development Grant (CBDG) Program has since orchestrated swift rehabilitation as part of a neighborhood stabilization program.
CDBG Director Ezell Robins said one home being sold is already under contract and the other should be closed on by next week.
“Once I got them ready to go, they go pretty quickly,” Robins said.
Since the effort began in 2008, the department has flipped about 25 homes, according to Robins. After the properties are updated, they are sold through an affordable housing program.
“We started talking about the program in 2007,” Robins said. “So every opportunity I’ve had in a public setting we’ve done because its great for individuals who are looking for a home and who can get some assistance getting into a home.”
The costs of purchasing the homes and rehabbing them are covered with funds from the Lake County Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which received federal grants in 2008 and 2010. The county subgrants the money to the cities of Waukegan and North Chicago and nonprofits Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County and Lake County Residential Development Corporation.
With money from the first grant, 54 units have been rehabbed and sold and 18 have been rehabbed and rented. From the second grant, nine units have been rehabbed and sold and four have been rehabbed and rented, according to Lake County planner Jordan Bartle.
Ezell said it typically takes up to two months to rehab a home. Construction includes bringing a property up to code, but can go a step further with improvements in certain cases.
“If it’s an affordable housing program and that furnace is going to go out in a few years, it’s not really a good deal for them,” Ezell said.
The Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County has transformed homes in Round Lake, Mundelein and Zion. Chief Executive Officer Lisa Pugliese said her organization’s projects are more than just flips, though, as it tries to ensure that buyers will not have to put in any additional work.
Pugliese said the program has been one of the most rewarding programs she has ever been part of because it has helped stabilize areas, particularly in Mundelein, that were hit hard by the recession. Since 2009, 12,666 properties were foreclosed on in Lake County. Of those properties, 679 were in Mundelein, according to data from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
“What I think is the double bottom line is that we’re not only saving properties and stabilizing neighborhoods, we’re providing great ownership opportunities and we’re allowing someone to buy a home that because of the rehab is a much higher quality home and stable home versus one that didn’t have our touch on it,” Pugliese said.
Waukegan suffered from the housing crisis, too, with 2,150 foreclosures between 2009 and now.
Ezell echoed Pugliese’s praise for the program’s potential to help stabilize neighborhoods. He said it’s good for the city to increase its rate of homeownership, and the program helps provide people who might not have otherwise had the opportunity with a chance to become a homeowner.
“If we have an opportunity to get people into ownership, it’s a good opportunity,” Ezell said. “Owners make better neighbors.”
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