News Articles

By Abby Miller, Chicago Sun-Times | May 1st, 2026 (Click Here For Original Article) Neighbors and project partners gathered Friday on East 118th Street in Roseland to celebrate the newest homes built under the community-led campaign Reclaiming Chicago. The Hope Center Foundation and Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, partners in the campaign, held a ribbon-cutting for 10 homes in the Far South Side neighborhood. Four of the properties are under contract, and five potential buyers have been referred to lenders, according to the Hope Center. With Phase 2 in Roseland complete, 90 homes now have been built under [...]

By Abby Miller, Chicago Sun-Times | May 1st, 2026 (Click Here For Original Article) Will Johnson has lived near Garfield Park for about 40 years. So when he saw developers building new homes on his block, he was hesitant to embrace the change. But now that the homes are materializing, Johnson — who says he’s seen the neighborhood rise and fall over the years — is feeling more optimistic. So are his neighbors. “When people are set in their ways, it’s hard to do new stuff,” he said. “But now that it’s kicking in gear, people are like, ‘Oh, [...]

By Mohammad Samra, Chicago Sun-Times | December 8th, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article) Quilen Blackwell, owner of a Chicago nonprofit that employs at-risk youth to turn vacant lots into flower farms, has won CNN’s Hero of the Year Award. Blackwell is CEO of Chicago Eco House, which grows flowers on South and West side lots, and Southside Blooms, an Englewood flower shop at 6250 S. Morgan St. His organization has been employing at-risk youth, ages 16 to 24, since 2014 at gardens in Englewood, Woodlawn, Washington Park and West Garfield Park. The award comes with a $100,000 prize that [...]

By Lourdes Duarte, WGN Chicago | August 1st, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article and To See the Video Broadcast) CHICAGO — A step was taken Friday to address the lack of affordable housing in the Chicago area. Crews broke ground on the Reclaiming Chicago project that will deliver 10 new homes in the next six months. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle touted the initiative led by the Hope Center Foundation and Cook County Land Bank Authority. In the majority of the cases, the land bank provides the vacant lots. Crews use that land to build 1,600-square foot homes [...]

By Violet Miller, Chicago Sun-Times | August 1st, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article) The community-led campaign has drawn $40 million in support from public and private lenders with the goal of building 2,000 homes on the South and West sides. James Williams Jr. and his wife got married last year, and within 12 months had the keys to their first home — something he never imagined was possible. “My mother and father never owned a home, so I had no reference,” Williams said. “It was something I could never dream of.” The effort was part of the community-led Reclaiming Chicago [...]

By Ariel Parrella-Aureli, Block Club Chicago | July 7th, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article) Modular house company Inherent Homes is also building six single-family homes and one two-flat building on vacant Humboldt Park land in partnership with the city. HUMBOLDT PARK — Two plots of vacant land in Humboldt Park have been transformed into houses, the first set of completed factory-built homes for the neighborhood under a pilot program. The homes at 822-824 N. Homan Ave. were built by Inherent Homes, a modular home company with a factory in North Lawndale that’s one of the few developers building affordable homes [...]

By Abby Miller, Chicago Sun-Times | July 2nd, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article) COOK COUNTY, IL — Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle joined the Cook County Land Bank Authority, representatives from Inherentance and other elected officials today to announce the completion of the first two homes that are part of the Cook County Modular Homes Pilot Program. The $12 million initiative is focused on the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago, Chicago Heights and Proviso Township, all communities with limited new home construction. The Cook County Bureau of Economic Development’s Department of Planning and Development is leading this pilot program, which will see [...]

BMO, Austin Coming Together, By the Hand Club for Kids and public officials are partners in the project By Jessica Mordacq, Austin Weekly News | April 9th, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article) Habitat for Humanity has broken ground on its first project in Austin. On April 7, the national housing nonprofit, Austin-based partner organizations and public officials gathered at 5320 W. Ferdinand St. to celebrate the start of construction on four affordable homes there, plus three in the 400 block of North Lockwood Avenue. All homes will be 1,800-square-foot, two-story structures. Each will have four bedrooms, a two-car garage and [...]

By Dave Marzullo, WGN Radio 720 | March 7th, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article and Listen to the Recorded Discussion)

By Darius Johnson & Edie Kasten, CBS News Chicago | January 3rd, 2025 (Click Here For Original Article and To See the Video Broadcast) CHICAGO (CBS) -- In life, making the wrong decision can often lead you to the wrong places, but a Chicago non-profit believes everyone deserves another chance, and two people are living proof that Cleanslate changes lives. "I went to prison for fraud for a long time. I was a real estate broke. I closed my office in I believe it was about '92, '93, and I started doing fraud," said Sam Lovett, senior manager of business [...]