NOW OPEN: Housing Planning through Homes for a Changing Region

We are proud to announce new technical assistance available through the Homes for a Changing Region program. Homes helps municipalities identify solutions their most pressing housing challenges, create a balanced mix of housing types, and serve the needs of multiple generations of residents and workers. Homes is a partnership between the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and is supported by the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant uncertainty in some local housing markets, while others experience dynamics such as rising home prices or an aging population. No matter the issues facing your municipality, the Homes team will help you using data, regional expertise, and case studies from peer communities to identify solutions to challenges emerging out of the pandemic, which can include:

• Ensuring a healthy multifamily stock amid the uncertainty of the pandemic;
• Addressing community-wide affordability;
• Support for seniors aging-in-place and potentially isolated in their homes; and/or
• Increasing the supply of housing options, such as starter homes or the “missing middle”.

Homes will provide fast and highly targeted technical assistance through a housing needs assessment, discussion of local stakeholders, panel of housing experts, and a final action plan. At the end of the process, the team will identify best practice actions and resources to fund implementation. This year, the assistance includes a free community survey, which will help municipalities identify emerging housing issues, including those directly or indirectly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assistance is free. Please fill out the application here by Friday, September 17 to be considered for this free assistance. For more information, please contact Kyle Smith at ksmith@mayorscaucus.org.