CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Chicago affordable housing developer said the city is short by more than 200,000 affordable units. This weekend, he’ll be among those leading a trolley tour designed to help chip away at that housing shortage.
“We are simply getting the word out to those families that are part of what I call the ‘missing middle,” said Mike Drew, of Structured Development.
Drew said the “missing middle” pertains to those who are neither on the very low end of the income spectrum — who qualify for subsidized housing. Nor are they people who fall on the high end, in market-rate homes.
The “missing middle” typically includes workforce families, he said.
“Double income families with children, professionals, police officers, firefighters, schoolteachers,” Drew said. “They all fall into that category.”
He said people in this demographic have had difficulty finding housing in what he called a “rising rent environment.”
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The trolley tour, organized by Structured Development and the Chicago Housing Trust, will highlight about 80 units total. It will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 15 and tour nine affordable, for-sale properties — including single-family homes, townhomes, and condos.
Drew said the tour will start at The Seng, one of Structured Development’s buildings in Lincoln Park’s Clybourn Corridor. He said with rents going up and mortgage rates at a 20-year high, this is a tricky time for homebuyers.
“And that’s all the more reason why a three- or four-bedroom condominium at the Seng, for instance, at a price of roughly $350,000 is such an opportunity,” Drew said.
He added that his company is looking at a “3% down payment and whatever assistance we can provide to make that opportunity a reality for those buyers.”
Nearly 120 people have signed up so far, Drew said.
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