Dear Housing Partners,

Thanks for all you are doing! Everywhere I visit in Illinois you are doing great work helping others.

I want to introduce you to my new friend Mary and her sweet dog. Mary, a widow, was able to move back to her hometown into a beautiful new apartment financed by IHDA. As we sat on her front porch she told me she now lives near her children and can watch her grandchildren play T-ball. She has been reintroduced to old friends. She can afford her rent. She never dreamed that she would be living in such a wonderful apartment and neighborhood. She said her life is full and has meaning again. Thanks to the Montgomery County Housing Authority for helping Mary and many others! 

Those of you who have joined us at our board meetings know that Bill Malleris finished his tenure as an IHDA board member earlier this year, and I want to thank him for his nearly six years of service. During those years, IHDA financed more than 3,350 units of accessible and adaptable housing. He was (and still is) a relentless advocate, and we cannot thank him enough. 

Congratulations to the development teams that were awarded funding under the Permanent Supportive Housing Development Program during our May board meeting. This is an important focus area for IHDA as we look for ways to help some of the most vulnerable residents in Illinois live independently. We're looking forward to the groundbreakings! 

June is National Homeownership Month, which means it's time to remember the important role homeownership plays in healthy communities and improve access to the resources that make buying a home possible for families throughout Illinois . If you are not an IHDA lender, talk to our Homeownership team today to find out how you can help more people in your community. If you or someone on your staff would like to buy a home, visit one of our participating lenders to help determine if you are ready. We have great down payment assistance programs. 

2017 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit applications are due tomorrow, June 23. Everyone submitting an application has received an email from [email protected] with their username and password for the new online application portal. This is a huge step towards our goal of going paperless, streamlining our internal processes and better serving you. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback during testing. We made a number of improvements to the site thanks to your ideas.

Finally, make sure you're following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for the latest and greatest IHDA news. We're posting job opportunities, industry news and updates from events with partners throughout the state. Connect with us and stay tuned! 

Audra

Executive Director

[email protected]

June is National Homeownership Month, and the desire to own a home is growing among young renters. A survey by Apartment List found that 80 percent of millennial households want to purchase a home, but  affordability remains their biggest challenge. At their current saving rate, millennials will need at least a decade to save for a 20 percent down payment.

IHDA's down payment assistance programs can help lenders and Realtors tap into this pent up demand and make homeownership a reality for more first-time homebuyers. With up to $7,500 in down payment assistance, dollar-for-dollar reductions to federal income tax liability and free pre-purchase education, the 1stHomeIllinois and @HomeIllinois programs make homeownership more accessible and sustainable for working families. While many may believe they are years away from purchasing their first home, these programs can be the difference that allow more buyers to achieve their dream.

Visit www.ihda.org for more information or contact IHDA's Homeownership team at [email protected] .

More Chicago-area homeowners are underwater on their mortgages than any other metro area in the nation, according to Crain's Chicago and CoreLogic. While 55,000 Chicago-area homeowners escaped negative equity in the past 12 months, Chicago's housing prices are among the slowest in the country to recover, and 162,000 homeowners are still looking for a fresh start.

The I-Refi program offers much-needed relief to homeowners with underwater mortgages, giving them a rare chance to erase their negative equity and regain what in many cases is a household's  most valuable asset. The program provides up to $50,000 to reduce the amount they still owe on their underwater mortgage, and once the loan is right-sized, the borrower is able to refinance into a new loan at today's lower interest rates. Homeowners are reducing their principal balance by an average of $38,000 and saving an average of $360 every month on their new loan payments after an I-Refi refinance.

Visit www.ihda.org/irefi to find program information and a list of participating lenders.