The city of Springfield is launching a pilot program geared toward helping first-time homebuyers by rehabilitating dilapidated properties on the city’s east side.
“On the east side of Springfield, we own properties as a city, and we’re not doing enough to revitalize the neighborhoods,” said Ethan Posey, Springfield’s director of community relations. “We own a lot of property, and we’re not selling it and we’re not demolishing it quick enough. So, we came up with the My First Home initiative.”
The city has allocated $120,000 this year toward rehabilitating a vacant house at 1933 East Cedar St., Posey said. He added if this first rehabilitation project proves successful, the city will likely revitalize more homes in future years.
Several years ago, the Cedar Street house and three others were donated to the city by a bank, said Mike Lesko, the city’s purchasing agent. He added he is not certain how the financial institution came to possess the properties.
Posey said Springfield owns other vacant homes, such as those along the planned high-speed rail corridor, but the focus of the My First Home initiative is on the city’s east side. He said city leaders have a strong desire to promote homeownership.
“When you look at communities where there’s not as much rental going on and there’s more homeownership, it affects a number of things,” said Posey. “People stay in the community longer. You see positive benefits with health outcomes and lower rates of violence. Because there’s so much on the east side that needs to be revitalized, that’s where our focus is.
“The mayor wants to see it. The administration wants to see it. We thought a good way to start would be to take properties that we already own and fix them up and turn them into places that people not only want to buy, but are going to want to stay in. There will be places you want to raise your kids,” he said.
Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory represents much of the city’s east side and said while he is encouraged by the initiative, its initial impact will be small.
“One of the things that has to come with it is whole block restoration,” he said. “We have blocks in our community that have one house and then empty lot after empty lot after empty lot. So, what it really needs to be about is whole block restoration.”
Posey said various contractors will submit bids to revitalize each home. But Gregory said the community might benefit from the program more if it used the projects as training opportunities for those interested in entering the building trades.
“Not only do we want to repair the house that we want to sell to a homeowner, but we also want to put some workforce training in it as well,” Gregory said. “Young people, middle-aged adults – even people my age – want to get good, decent paying jobs or learn a trade in the same community in which they’re from. I’m always happy to hear about (city initiatives), but I’m asking, ‘Is it enough?'”
Gregory and Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams were vocal supporters of a similar plan put forth by the previous mayor, Jim Langfelder, that would have utilized participants from the Southtown Construction Training Center to fix up city-owned houses. During his State of the City address in May 2022, Langfelder announced what he called the Whole Block Housing Initiative.
Brad Schaive, the business manager for Laborers 477, later addressed the city council and objected to the proposed partnership, citing an ongoing dispute over whether owner Calvin Pitts was current on his union dues. The council ultimately declined to move forward with the program.
Just how the purchaser of the rejuvenated home will be selected has yet to be determined, Posey said.
“We’re going to be selling it to someone who is a Springfield resident and who is a first-time homebuyer,” Posey said. “Now, the process for creating the application itself is still being done. So, we don’t have the specifics on what the qualifications are going to be.
“We want to make sure that we consider different factors very carefully. And that includes economic income. … We don’t want anyone to purchase the house and then not be able to pay the mortgage or not be able to pay the taxes. That would be a detriment to the community. We don’t want to put anyone in a position where they have this great opportunity, and then it ends up making their life harder.”
Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at sreeder@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Growing old gay.
The initiative means well, but Alderman Gregory is right that the city should add additional benefit for the east side by using workforce training programs to do the rehabs. If not, this is just using a good initiative to rehab east side homes in order to line a major local campaign supporter’s pockets (Schaive).
The lack of affordable housing, the deplorable condition of properties, racial disparities in educational outcome and the labor market are issues that need immediate attention from the city and community leaders.
The city of Springfield is separated into sections or neighborhoods. Areas like downtown Springfield, Aristocracy Hill, the Historic West side, and Lincoln park the city determines to be of value and the residents in these neighborhoods priority. Where you live says something about who you are. When people look at the east side, they see problems and they fail to see the people. The people who live on the east side of Springfield work predominantly in the service industry. They take care of the city’s grandparents in nursing homes; they stock shelves at the grocery store; they prepare and serve meals in restaurants, so the people have time for the important things in life, or just to enjoy a night out. These people work long hours for low wages. They work tirelessly to meet the needs of others, and then struggle to meet their own.
The east side of Springfield deserves more than an experimental pilot program. The problems on the east side require a solution that can only come from serious and determined effort. This project will have no effect without cooperation and sincere partnership between the city of Springfield and the east side community. Planning and implementing the project had to be a collaboration. This inclusive approach ensures that the needs and voices of those directly impacted are heard and addressed. It builds trust and a sense of ownership among all stakeholders involved. The east side isn’t looking for a hand out, but a hand up.
$120,000 to remodel a single story, 910 sq ft, house, 2 bed and 1 bath is not economical nor does it reflect the concept of affordable housing. Not many people are willing to purchase a $120,000 home in a neighborhood where other houses are boarded up. With focused planning, $120,000 is enough to remodel the entire block.
Education and training have to be met with opportunity to have any effect. The construction company to head this project needs to be a new company formed from the east side or low income community . The funding allocated to service low income people pays outside service providers. None of that money ever circulates within the community. The cost of living, paid for by minimum wage, also never circulates within the community.
I wonder what happened to the list of minority contractors that the city was supposed to produce.