We have long called for more affordable housing in suburban Chicago.

Hardworking but low-paid workers should be able to live in the counties where hey toil. Young people just starting their careers should be able to afford a home in the towns where they grew up. And older empty nesters shouldn't have to leave their communities to downsize.

But affordable housing has not always been a priority for elected officials in the suburbs.

That appears to be changing in recent years.

CHICAGO - July 17, 2022 – Gun safety, mental illness and affordable housing were the key topics during a community action meeting Sunday afternoon at “House of Hope” on the South Side.

There, hundreds of faith and community leaders called on Senator Dick Durbin and other officials to provide the funding necessary to implement policies to improve the well-being of residents across the city and state.

Read more in the WGN News report.

We are pleased to share a video of the AASH (Affordable Accessible and Supportive Housing) presentation done by DuPage United Leaders Clara Huges and Roger Hughes at First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, IL.

Even with my warm leather gloves on, my fingers are still starting to feel numb. My woolen cap keeps my head reasonably warm, but I should have remembered my scarf to keep my face warm. The dogs need walking or I wouldn’t be out here. It’s as simple as that.

On October 29, 2021, I took a small trip over the Fox River to a project of the Fox River Valley Initiative. This was the culmination of their initiative.

1212 Larkin in Elgin is a real success story. Amanda Reilly-Sokoli, DU organizer, has reported on this previously, and there are 48 units for about 90 people, all affordable housing.

I am calling this the newsletter for DuPage United (DU) and Fox River Valley Initiative (FRVI), since much of our activities involve both of these Metro IAF organizations.

So, where are we, what have we done and where are we going?

I will try to summarize the past several months, including the April 20th Leader meeting. DU and FRVI continue to make progress.

DuPage Sponsors, publicly known as DuPage United, was one of 37 DuPage County not-for-profit organizations to receive a grant through DuPage Foundation’s Spring Community Needs Grant Program (CNGP). DuPage Foundation awarded $702,860, a new record amount, to organizations working in the areas of Health & Human Services. DuPage Sponsors received a grant in the amount of $25,000 to help support its ongoing campaign to reduce the number of incarcerated people with mental illness.

I would like to share about a recent visit in mid-January to 1212 Larkin, an affordable, accessible, housing development, in Elgin. DuPage United hosted tours of 1212 Larkin, led by organizers Amanda Reilly and Rabbi Ricky Kamil and people from DU’s member institutions (local churches, synagogues, mosques, nonprofit organizations, and associations). We were joined by a number of county and city/village officials, at the invitation of DuPage United, to visit 1212 Larkin and learn more about it. County Board Member Greg Schwarze was in my group.

Members of Redeemer were invited to see what affordable housing looks like in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. So, Mary Landis and Lanny Wilson trekked out to 1212 Larkin Street in Elgin, Illinois on cold, wet January 14, 2021 to view the project which was initiated in large part by the Fox River Valley Initiative in Kane County, an affiliate organization of our own DuPage United. One of the people on the tour offered that this is what it looks like when spiritual aspirations take material form.

We have come to the end of 2020. Whew! Of course it is merely an end to the calendar year. Symbolically important in so many ways, but of course the World keeps turning (I am glad of that) and our issues will roll over into 2021.

So many things have transpired.