There are potentially troubling implications for people living in affordable housing, in reports of a fiscal crisis at Chicago Equity Trust, which finances many low-income housing developments.
According to yesterday’s Crain’s Chicago Business, city officials and lenders have seized control of 2,000 housing units run by the organization and a sister company.
The report says the city hopes to salvage all the units in question by bringing in new lenders and managers.
The reason for the organization’s financial problems, the report says, is that it hasn’t been able to turn around the fortunes of a number of its investment properties, some of which are in drug- and gang-infested neighborhoods where rental incomes were not covering operating costs and interest payments.
We wonder what implications this news will have for affordable housing efforts at large across the city, particularly as Chicago Equity Trust is the largest syndicator of low-income housing tax-credits in Chicago.