December 2013 cic DEVELOPMENTS. Recipient of the 2012 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions

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1 December 2013 cic Community Investment Corporation Chicagoland s Leading Multifamily Rehab Lender DEVELOPMENTS Recipient of the 2012 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions cic preserves 4,450 affordable units in 2013 CIC preserved 4,450 units of affordable rental housing as of the end of fiscal year 2013 on September 30. Despite challenging market conditions, CIC made $44.5 million in 92 loans and grants from all sources. Thanks to CIC s capable staff and 40 committed investors from financial institutions providing a $417 million loan pool, CIC continued to lend for acquisition and rehab, to conserve energy in multifamily housing, and to train a record number of property managers. CIC worked with the City of Chicago to correct code deficiencies in multifamily buildings, recover buildings destroyed by failed and fraudulent condominium conversions, and transfer bad buildings to responsible new owners. Continues on next page South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2200 Chicago, IL

2 cic preserves 4,450 affordable units in HIGHLIGHTS 4,450 units preserved by cic loans $9.3 million in cic Energy Savers loans/grants 1,852 landlords/managers attended cic Property Management Training 6,991 units recovered under the Troubled Buildings Initiative since attended the strategies conference hosted by The Preservation Compact 17 condo buildings with 239 units transferred to new owners 40 bank investors in the cic loan pool $417 million in cic loan pool Acquisition/Rehab Loans In FY2013, CIC approved 41 loans for $20.5 million to preserve buildings with 725 units. All CIC loans were affordable to people at or below 80% of Area Median Income, and many were affordable for incomes much less than that. CIC also provided more than $14 million in government grants to rehab affordable multifamily housing. Troubled Buildings Initiative This year the program brought under control (completed rehab or under receivership) another 46 of the city s toughest buildings with 822 units. Since it began in 2003, the Troubled Buildings partnership of four City departments, Housing Court, and CIC/CII (Community Initiatives, Inc.) has addressed 711 buildings with 13,251 units and recovered 345 buildings with 6,991 units. Distressed Condominiums Working closely with the City of Chicago, CII has filed condo deconversion orders on 68 buildings with 784 units. In FY2013, CII transferred 17 buildings with 239 units to new owners to rehab for affordable rental housing. Multifamily Acquisition/Disposition In FY2013, CII transferred three multifamily buildings with 68 units to capable new owners. Since 2003, CIC/CII has acquired and transferred 199 buildings with 3,382 units to be rehabbed and preserved for affordable rental housing. Energy Savers Together with CNT Energy, a division of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, CIC helped property owners substantially reduce their energy consumption and utility costs by approving $7.2 million for 21 loans for buildings with 2,013 affordable rental units, and providing 16 grants totaling $2.1 million to retrofit 1,551 units. Since 2008, CIC has issued $12.8 million in 94 loans, and 34 grants, for $2.8 million to conserve energy in buildings with 4,809 units. Property Management Training In FY2013, a record 1,852 landlords and managers learned the basics of property management in 78 presentations throughout the six-county area in CIC s Property Management Training program. From its inception in 1998, CIC has provided training to over 12,500 owners and managers of apartment buildings throughout the Chicago area. The Totals Since beginning multifamily rehab lending in 1984, CIC has approved 1,976 loans and a total of $1.12 billion, resulting in the rehab of 52,349 units as of the end of FY CIC DEVELOPMENTS

3 TIPS FROM TAFT Finding a good tenant is an art Taft West Director of Property Management Training Do you have to continually chase a tenant for the rent? Are there guests living in the apartment for extended periods? Do other tenants complain of loud noise and constant foot traffic? Your tenant probably exhibited similar behavior before applying for the apartment. However, with proper screening techniques, landlords can find out about these issues in advance and avoid the headaches and stress created by unruly tenants and unauthorized guests. Although no method is foolproof, best practices have taught us that a comprehensive approach works best. Finding a good tenant is an art. Landlords must comply with non-discrimination laws based upon race, gender, age, familial status/size, nationality, disability and sexual preference. A landlord should be welcoming, and accept applications from everyone. However, as long as a landlord has a legitimate business reason such as poor credit, a felony or negative references, an application can be denied. SCREENING TENANTS Income All legal sources of income must be considered. Maximum Occupancy HUD standards are only two persons per bedroom. Credit Choose an acceptable credit level/score for the community, and be consistent. Cleanliness If possible, inspect for housekeeping at a tenant s current residence, and treat all applicants equally. Rental History Obtain references from current and former landlords. Criminal Background Check Felons are not a protected class. THE APPLICATION Start with a good application, and have the applicant fill it out completely. Make certain it is signed; otherwise you cannot order a credit report. Collect a nominal fee for the credit report. Ask to see a photo ID. Spend some time talking with and learning about the applicant. RULES AND REGULATIONS Develop a tenant handbook and discuss its provisions with the new tenant. If you establish rules, you must enforce them equally for all tenants. Document and discuss all infractions with the violators. A no-pet policy excludes service animals. They must be allowed and no fees charged. CURB APPEAL What does your property look like from the outside? Make sure that the grounds, exterior and interior of your property are clean, appealing and in good repair. You only have one chance to make a good first impression. A useful question to ask is: Would YOU want to live there? As a landlord, you should be excited to get new tenants. Set the tone for a mutually fruitful and communicative landlord/ tenant relationship. Discuss all the rules, show tenants around the property, introduce them to the staff, proudly show them their new home and welcome them to your community. This first step will go far in creating a positive partnership with your tenants. Although the information above is generally accurate, it is not legal advice. Seek the advice of an attorney before acting on it. Until next time, Taft CIC DEVELOPMENTS 3

4 cic profile: STACIE YOUNG cic is a preservation machine Stacie Young Director of The Preservation Compact How did you get into this business? I grew up in Chicago s south suburbs. As a kid in the 1970s, I watched neighbors move out of our community, and over the years heard a lot about diversity. I was lucky enough to get a job fresh out of college with a Fair Housing organization called the Housing Coalition of the South Suburbs (now known as Diversity, Inc.). Seven years later, my experience focusing on race and housing led me back to school to better understand how public policy influences people and where they live. Graduate school did not answer all my questions, but it did help me find my next job working for the City of Chicago Department of Housing. I have been working on housing issues ever since. How did you come to work at cic? In 2003, I moved to the Mayor s Office to work with many different City departments on housing issues. Coordinating housing among different players was great preparation for a brand new collaborative effort: The Preservation Compact. The Compact was launched in 2007 with several initiatives funded by the MacArthur Foundation. I worked out of DePaul University on one of those initiatives, the Interagency Council, coordinating different levels of government around assisted housing. When CIC assumed leadership of The Compact in 2011, I also moved to CIC to direct the broader effort. Check out our website for more information What s your favorite part of working at cic? My colleagues know everything about lending, tackling distressed buildings, CIC s amazing owners, the market and, most importantly, where to find the best donuts. What changes do you see on the horizon for this business? CIC is a preservation machine. We facilitate investments, address troubled buildings and neighborhoods, and build owner capacity. As we think about future policy directions, we should learn from the CIC experience, and find ways to assist the unsubsidized stock, which is so often overlooked in broader public policy discussions. Public resources for housing continue to dwindle, and large housing assistance programs will inevitably change as a result. Yet the vast majority of affordable rental units are found in unsubsidized units. With that in mind, what are ways to invest small amounts of public money with fewer strings attached? If preservation were a medical procedure, I would say we should create minimally invasive ways to keep our rental housing healthy, with a sensible approach to extending a building s affordable life. Too many bureaucratic tubes and shunts will prevent owners from seeking assistance altogether. What is something interesting about you that most people don t know? I am not to be trusted in case of an emergency. When our twin boys were babies, one scratched his head in the middle of the night and it bled badly. The scratches were easily cleaned up by my husband but in the meantime I passed out, went into shock, and had to be taken to the emergency room while the baby went back to sleep in his crib. CIC DEVELOPMENTS 4

5 Surprise! Most affordable housing is not subsidized When most people hear the term affordable housing, they think of housing built or made affordable by various Jack Markowski forms of government financial assistance. They might think of public housing, project-based Section 8 developments, or housing built with financing provided by Low Income Housing Tax Credits, tax exempt bonds, and HOME funds. It may come as a surprise that 75% of the low-cost rental housing in the U.S. is privately owned and privately financed with no form of public assistance, not even Section 8 rental vouchers for residents. CIC specializes in lending for the acquisition and rehab of small multifamily buildings, that is, buildings of five to 49 units, which account for more than one-third of the rental housing in the U.S. These small multifamily buildings are generally owned by ma and pa entrepreneurs. Whether they own five units or 1,000, whether real estate ownership is a side venture or a full-time career, these hands-on entrepreneurs are classic small business owners. They are strong and stable neighborhood businesses which provide a valuable service, invest their own time and money, and hire employees and buy materials and supplies locally. Clean, secure, and well-maintained apartment buildings help set the tone for entire neighborhoods. They protect property values, including nearby single family homes, and they contribute to a safe environment where families can sit outside and children can walk to school. Rental housing in small multifamily buildings is economical for both renters and owners. Across the country, rents in these buildings tend to be less than rents in 1-4 unit buildings or rents in larger buildings. In many parts of the Chicago area, the all-in costs for acquisition and rehab of a small rental property are about $40,000 to $60,000 per unit, compared to the $300,000 to $400,000 per unit that it costs to create new housing with Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Traditionally, local banks, with their immediate knowledge of the properties, neighborhoods, and individuals involved, have been the primary source of financing for small rental housing, and they have held the loans for the long term. But in the 2008 housing crash, many lenders were caught with outstanding loans on properties that had suffered great devaluation. They had to re-value their portfolios, pull back on their lending operations, and sometimes even close due to losses in this sector. The Chicago area lost almost one-third of its multifamily lenders between 2005 and Six of the area s top eight multifamily lenders in 2006 had closed or ceased multifamily lending activity by As the real estate market has begun to recover, there has been some return to normalcy in lending for small multifamily buildings. In Chicago, some banks are making loans to strong borrowers in strong neighborhoods. But according to DePaul University s Institute for Housing Studies, lending for these buildings in low- and moderate-income communities of the city has dropped from its peak by 80-90%. Yet CIC has continued to serve this market. Financing multifamily rehabs and energy conserving retrofits, providing training to property managers, re-assembling distressed condominium properties, repairing dangerous conditions in troubled buildings, and promoting policies to support affordable rental housing are all part of our comprehensive array of services to support communities and housing throughout the Chicago area. We thank all of our partners the banks, local governments, foundations who have made our ongoing commitment possible. Jack Markowski CIC President CIC DEVELOPMENTS 5

6 cic Corporation 222 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2200 Chicago, IL Community Investment Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Chicago, IL Permit No What s Inside cic preserves 4,450 units in 2013 page 1 Tips from Taft on finding a good tenant page 3 cic profile of Stacie Young page 4 cic President Jack Markowski on affordable housing page 5 cic energy savers program FREE energy audit Low-cost energy loans at 3%* Save more than 30% on energy costs Call a cic Loan Officer for details. *subject to change Jack Crane returns to cic Nearly 20 years ago, Jack Crane was a loan officer at CIC. After career stops at Harris Bank, Good News Partners, Organization of the Northeast (ONE), ShoreBank and Northern Trust, Jack returns to CIC. He is a Senior Loan Officer and Manager of our new Targeted Impact Loan program which is for groups of residential rental buildings of 1-4 units in targeted areas. In 2010 while directing community lending at Northern Trust, Jack received the Northern Trust Chairman s Diversity Award for his successful community business efforts and advocacy on behalf of partners and clients within the minority and LGBT communities. A graduate of Boston College, Jack currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Resurrection Project and is Board Chair at the Rebuilding Exchange, a leading Chicago market maker for reclaimed building materials. Welcome back, Jack!