The CLCLT's Office is located at 1904
Greenwood Street, Evanston, Illinois 60201.
Our work schedule is Monday through Thursday,
10:00am to 4:00pm. We are often busy working
in the field during these hours, so please
call 847-772-7991 to set an appointment, and
we will get to you as soon as we can.
Snapshots From The Annual Meeting
We are very grateful to Elissa Morgante and Fred Wilson
of Morgante Wilson Architects, Ltd., sponsor of this
year's CLCLT annual meeting.
The attached flyer is fifth in a series of community meetings that
focus on affordable housing in Evanston. Which market, the fair market
or the affordable market, can you afford? These discussions will help
you decide which market is correct for you.
These are the dates, locations and presenters for the next
community meetings:
Citizens' Lighthouse Community Land Trust
City of Evanston, NSP2 Program
Illinois Housing Development Authority
More to come!
CLCLT Receives Grant From Veolia
We are grateful to receive a donation from
Veolia Environmental Services. The
Milwaukee-based firm has a major facility in
Evanston. Its donation will help us continue
to develop unique options for those seeking to
own an affordable home as well as those seeking
to avoid foreclosure.
CLCLT Workshops Scheduled
We are planning a two-part workshop schedule on
the community land trust model and its benefits
for Evanston. We ask that participants RSVP to
847-772-7991 or by email to
president@citizenslighthouse.org. Refreshments
will be served. All are welcomed.
CLCLT Welcomes New Board Members
We are pleased to announce two new board members,
recently approved.
Jasmine Brewer has worked in the area of predatory
lending, foreclosure prevention and fair
housing/lending since February 2007. She chaired
the Evanston Foreclosure Prevention Task Force
whose mission was to create a collaborative
collective to decrease foreclosures in the City of
Evanston. She served on the Chicago Area Fair
Housing Alliance board of directors from October
2007 to April 2009.
David White is a consultant with extensive
experience in real estate investment including
affordable housing projects.
We are grateful for their contributions to
developing affordable housing options for those
who want to live and work in Evanston and look
forward to working with them.
How You Can Help
The CLCLT's goal is to create permanently affordable housing in
Evanston. Specifically, this means to have an affordable housing market
of homes for families and individuals at or below the Chicago Area Median
Income (AMI) of 80%, which right now is an income level at or below
$60,100 earned annually. The CLCLT also will create cost-saving measures
for potential homeowners by qualifying buyers and developing projects
simultaneously, rather than other models which use separate procedures.
We are also dedicated to increasing our membership base by 280 people and
community members each year, further involving the CLCLT in the fabric of
the Evanston community.
You can help the CLCLT achieve these goals by becoming a member for an
annual
membership due of $25.00, by attending our community events,
participating in
Evanston affordable housing discussions, and carrying the message that
the
community land trust model keeps homes affordable in Evanston.
National CLT Foreclosure Study Reported
The National CLT Network recently published information included in a
presentation on a web-based seminar entitled
"2009 CLT Foreclosure & Delinquency Survey."
The survey found that, as of 2009, 42 community land trusts (CLT)
reported only 28 completed foreclosures from among 2,173 mortgages since the
time that the respective CLTs were established. Additionally, the report
noted that only 1 of 3 responding CLTs received funding in 2009 to create
new units from foreclosed and abandoned properties.
Significantly, while all mortgage loan classes reported an increase in
seriously delinquent loans (including prime, subprime, FHA and VA
loans), serious
delinquencies among CLT homeowners actually declined by more than one third
of one percent ... from less than 2.5% of all outstanding loans at the start
of 2009. This contrasts with a serious delinquency rate rising to almost
7.5% among prime loans during 2009.
Clearly, investment in CLT homes not only provides options for maintaining
economic diversity and affordable housing choices. It also assures the
on-going education and support needed to maintain moderate income
homeownership in increasingly more challenging times.
2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Board Members at Annual Meeting
Members are named in our latest newsletter. If you have not already
received our newsletter, please email your request.
CLCLT Receives Generous Gifts from Members
In May 2010, some retiring members of our board of directors
contributed funds paying half of the outstanding balance on the construction
loan for CLCLT's first permanently affordable home. Our membership joins
them in the hope that others would come forward and contribute to the goal
of retiring this loan. Paying this debt will free the land trust to take on
new projects that are well-suited to first-time homebuyers. It is our goal
to build a portfolio of permanently affordable homes to serve low- and
moderate-income families. Please help us with a generous gift if you
possibly can. We encourage your ideas, suggestions, efforts and
contributions to help us reach the goal of $10,000 raised during the course
of the next year. Your generous gift will help not only those families
served today, but will assure affordable housing options in Evanston in
perpetuity.
Evanston Community Development Director
Addressed Annual Meeting
Nearly 50 members attended our Fourth
Annual Meeting. New board members and
officers were elected. Former board members
and affordable housing advocates Sue
Carlson and Fran Seidman were recognized by
the board for their long and outstanding
service as advocates of affordable housing
and efforts on behalf of our organization
as board members and contributors to our
efforts. Mary DeJong was also recognized
for her on-going contributions and work
with committees and fund raising efforts.
Mr. Lehman Walker
Lehman Walker, Evanston's Community
Development Director, addressed those
present. He provided an overview of the
department's efforts to improve the
delivery of affordable housing services and
described the city's goals for this work.
He noted that a review of
CHDOs'
operations
and capacity is called for by city plans.
Walker responded to the audience,
answering a variety of questions about city
plans, their consequences and aims. We
appreciated his willingness to engage the
community in dialogue and his openness to
considering various points of view.
NSP Funding Provides Opportunity for Permanently Affordable Homes in
Evanston
CLCLT proposes including some NSP-funded homes
in the community land trust portfolio. This will
provide prospective buyers several options not
otherwise available.
First and foremost, they will participate in a
homeownership model that provides for affordable
homeownership for as long as the family wishes
to own the home. Second, the home will remain
affordable for the next buyers based on the use
of funds to purchase the land under the house to
be included in a land trust. Because the
homeowners lease the land, they are eligible for
reduced property taxes.
"Preserving the Affordability of NSP Funded
Foreclosed Properties" is a report written by
Rick Jacobus. He is one of the Partners of
Burlington Associates, national experts in
community land trust organization. His
colleague, Michael Brown, consulted with CLCLT
organizers and met many city officials when our
organization was establishing its policies and
procedures.
North Shore Community Bank Donation Received
We are happy to acknowledge a donation from North Shore Community Bank
and Trust Company. The gift, in the amount of $1,000, will be used for
administrative purposes. The gift is just one aspect of the bank's
on-going commitment to developers of affordable housing opportunities
in Evanston.
We are especially grateful to the bank for its on-going attention to
applications from Evanston residents for home mortgages. The bank
works effectively and efficiently with Evanston's community housing
development organizations (CHDO) and City of Evanston staff. This
cooperation assures that affordable home loan applications are
promptly and personally considered.
Evanston CHDOs are able to work closely with buyer and banker to
smoothly complete the sale of affordable homes.
The bank also facilitated financing for our first home sale. Last
year, we were pleased to acknowledge North Shore Community Bank and
Trust for its support of Evanston homebuyers at our Annual Meeting.
We look forward to continued cooperation with the bank. Together we
look forward to creating more permanently affordable homes in
Evanston.
CLCLT Acknowleges Donation
We are pleased to receive a generous donation from
Morgante-Wilson Architects. We especially appreciate the support of an
Evanston business. As we work to adapt our operations to new and
frequently changing market conditions, this gift helps us to make
orderly changes in our plans and methods. Despite challenging
conditions, we remain focused on providing affordable housing options
for low- and moderate-income families who live and work in Evanston.
Remember that completion of a government-approved homebuyer counseling program is a requirement for all applicants. Feel free to contact Housing Opportunity Development Corporation, CEDA Neighbors at Work or Rogers Park Community Development Corporation directly to schedule a session.
Citizens' Lighthouse Community Land Trust (CLCLT)
has gratefully accepted the support grants from the
following donors: the Bank of America, Patrick and Anna
M Cudahy Fund, The root2fruit program of the Evanston
Community Foundation, and The Field Foundation.
We gratefully acknowledge a gift from the firm of
Morgante-Wilson Architects, Ltd., Evanston, Illinois.
Please contact us by email at
office@citizenslighthouse.org
Our office is located at:
1904 Greenwood Street
Evanston, Illinois 60201-3909
Fair Housing Act: Fair housing is a right protected by
law. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits
discrimination in housing because of race or color,
national origin, religion, sex, familial status, sexual
orientation, or disability. The Citizens Lighthouse
Community Land Trust practices fair housing and does not
discriminate on any basis prohibited by federal, state,
or local law.