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.

Here are some pictures from the event.

Community Meeting:
      Fifth in the series

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:

• June 9, 2011 at 7:00pm, Evanston Main Library:

  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.

For a summary of the webinar's findings, please visit the National CLTs website.

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.