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Chicago Rehab Network’s Affordable Housing Fact Book Goes Online; Housing, Affordability Data Available in More Combinations with Regular Updates


WEBWIRE

CHICAGO, May 9 -- The Chicago Rehab Network (CRN), a 25 year old non-profit coalition of affordable housing advocates in Chicago, launched an unprecedented new way to access housing and affordability data. For the first time it is possible to compare data and look for housing trends across Chicago and Illinois.

“Developers, community leaders, and elected officials will be empowered by this readily accessible information,” said Kevin Jackson, the executive director of CRN. “It is the type of research that strengthens affordable housing initiatives and developments.”

Between 1990 and 2000, Chicago’s population grew, incomes rose, and the total number of households struggling to pay the rent dropped. However, this is not the whole picture. In many communities -- neighborhoods like Bridgeport, the Loop and the Lower West Side -- households struggling to meet housing costs grew between 12 and 23 percent.

In the state of Illinois, there were over 1 million households with housing problems in 2000. This includes 375,000 homeowners with housing costs at or above 35 percent of their total household income. In fact, between 1990 and 2000, the cost burden among homeowners rose by 35 percent, and it rose fastest (by 80 percent) among owners with moderate incomes.

These and other remarkable trends emerge from Chicago Rehab Network’s Affordable Housing Fact Book. The Fact Book aggregates demographic, housing and affordability data for Chicago and Illinois that includes individual fact sheets for communities, counties and Chicago wards. The new online version allows users to query the Fact Book database, formulate comparisons between different geographic areas, and access data not previously available. It features regular updates and new data on hot topics such as the number of housing units where affordability is at risk, as assisted contracts expire over the next five years.

To obtain more information and details about the CRN Fact Book, visit the Web site at http://www.chicagorehab.org, or call 312-663-3936.



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