A recommendation made by Mayor Rahm Emanuel last month that called for the City Council to approve financial measures allowing for the rehabilitation of the Fannie Emanuel Apartments in West Garfield Park — a move that would open up 181 units of affordable housing — unanimously passed the City Council during a meeting Wednesday afternoon.
The Austin Weekly News reported last week that the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) will oversee the $60.8 million project with the help of temporary and permanent financing provided through a $35 million bond allocation ceded by the city, in addition to $2.4 million in low-income housing tax credits. City officials anticipate the financing will generate $25 million in equity for the rehab project.
The units would be leased to low-income senior citizens who earn “up to 60 percent area median income,” according to the city. Tenants would allocate 30 percent of their monthly income to rent, while further rental assistance would be provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At an Oct. 13 community meeting in West Garfield Park, Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) laid out a tentative timetable for the project.
“We anticipate that construction will begin in December 2015 and finish up around January 2017,” said Ervin. “We expect that people will start moving in Spring 2017.”
Constructed in 1963, the Fannie Emanuel Apartments were originally called the Park View Apartments. The building closed in 2007 due to major problems with the mechanical system. The building is currently named after Dr. Fannie Emanuel, the African American physician who founded the Emanuel Settlement House in Chicago in 1908.
Igor Studenkov contributed to this article.
