HUMBOLDT PARK — Crews are wrapping up a $14 million overhaul of a single-room occupancy constructing that has been in Humboldt Park for greater than 25 years.
Humboldt Park Residence at 1152 N. Christiana Ave. was inbuilt 1995 by reasonably priced housing developer LUCHA as a 68-unit single-room occupancy for individuals who have skilled homelessness and people susceptible to changing into homeless.
LUCHA launched a renovation in February 2021 to improve the constructing’s outdated options, like its jack-and-jill loos, and add facilities for tenants, Reasonably priced Housing Director Charlene D. Andreas mentioned. Now, every condominium has a personal toilet and small kitchen, and the constructing has pc and health rooms on the bottom flooring, and an up to date mixture of items.
“We had been reaching that time that we would have liked to do some updates,” Andreas mentioned.
Earlier than the rehab, 58 % of the constructing’s flats had been backed via Chicago Housing Authority project-based vouchers and the Chicago Low-Revenue Housing Belief Fund. The remainder had been for folks incomes 50 % of the world median earnings, Andreas mentioned.
Now, the constructing has 65 flats as an alternative of 68 due to the reconfigured structure, however extra of them are backed: about 90 %, Andreas mentioned.
The mission was funded via tax-exempt bonds, low-income tax credit and a federal program, Andreas mentioned.
LUCHA rehabbed the constructing in response to the rising want for backed housing within the space and throughout Chicago, Andreas mentioned.
Lots of Chicago’s single-room occupancies, which had been constructed within the early 1900s to deal with low-income staff, have shut down in recent years, some even after town tried in 2014 to avoid wasting them with a preservation ordinance.
“It was actually essential for us to protect this, and protect the neighborhood we had constructed right here during the last 20 years,” Andreas mentioned.
The Humboldt Park Residence renovation is anticipated to complete within the subsequent few weeks, Andreas mentioned. Many of the flats are already rented; LUCHA plans to faucet into its lengthy waitlists to fill the remaining seven items, Andreas mentioned.
The constructing’s makeover comes as Humboldt Park continues to expertise speedy gentrification-fueled displacement, partially as a result of The 606’s Bloomingdale Path.
“We nonetheless have a major want — and even moreso now after COVID — for folks … to have a safe, protected and first rate place to stay,” Andreas mentioned.
Hearken to “It’s All Good: A Block Membership Chicago Podcast” right here:
httpss://blockclubchicago.org/2022/03/04/humboldt-park-single-room-occupancy-building-gets-14-million-upgrade-including-kitchens-and-bathrooms-in-each-unit/
