‘I moved in 10 days before Christmas. Oh my God.’ A Chicago housing program has helped a record number of families buy homes this year
A home for Christmas.
For years, Sonja Robinson wanted to move out of her three-bedroom apartment and buy a home where her three boys would have room to grow in Chicago. This month, the first grade teacher finally realized her dream.
“I moved in 10 days before Christmas so I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’ ” Robinson said, laughing as she added that she has plenty of boxes to open beyond any presents.
Robinson, 36, closed on the four-bedroom, red brick home in the Brainerd neighborhood on the South Side with the help of a Chicago Housing Authority program that has gotten more than 50 families into homes of their own this year.
Desra Webster, 40, bought a new gray-and-white house in Chatham this month with three stories and three full bathrooms. LaShawn Cobb moved into a home in Woodlawn with her 28-year-old son and their 9-year old Boston terrier Jack Russell, Bongo.
In all, 54 families in public or subsidized housing bought their own home this year through the Chicago Housing Authority’s Choose To Own program, which allows people to use a housing subsidy for the purchase, guides them through the buying process and provides them with monthly financial assistance for at least 15 years after the sale.
The number of closings soared over previous years, with low interest rates during the pandemic enabling more people to make the move, according to Mary Howard, the CHA’s chief resident services officer.
“This is their dream come true,” Howard said. “Any homeowner that I’ve spoken with has such a sense of pride in being able to purchase a home (and) fit into what they’ve heard about the American ideal — the American Dream — to be able to provide for their family.”
The program was launched nationally and came to Chicago about 17 years ago through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Howard said. It was originally intended for those participating in the HUD voucher program, or Section 8, but the CHA expanded it a few years ago to include public housing residents.
The CHA partners with various agencies to help prepare participants for homeownership, like taking required sessions and ensuring their credit is in line. The program provides free legal representation and supplies a recommended list of lenders, real estate agents and inspectors.
“Probably the best present they can give themselves and their family is to meet their goals, and if homeownership is one of those that’s terrific,” Howard said.
Webster had looked at several homes before settling for the one in Chatham. “When I walked in, it was home,” she said. “I’m like, ‘This is the one.’ I had walked in a few of them but none of them gave me that feeling.”
Her 7-year-old son Doneyale Martin Jr. was constantly asking for a new home because the two had always lived in apartments, Webster said. She had hoped to buy her late grandmother’s home earlier this year, but her finances didn’t line up. Then she turned to the CHA.
“We all have dreams of wanting a house and sometimes we hit roadblocks that don’t let us accomplish those things,” Webster said. “But when I did the Choose To Own program, it made me feel like I could do this.
“With COVID and everything going bad, it was good to have something good for me this year,” she said, adding that her family had struggled through sicknesses and high emotions. “I was able to get my son the house he’s been asking for.”
Cobb’s new home is just down the block from her old apartment. But the journey to homeownership wasn’t easy.
Cobb, 49, said she constantly questioned whether she was making the right move or if she was in over her head. Woodlawn, Hyde Park, Bronzeville, Washington Park — she looked in neighborhoods across the city, but time and time again, she was told she couldn’t afford the homes she picked out.
“The process is long, it’s frustrating, at times I wanted to cry,” she said. “There were times where I felt that I will always be a renter.”
The pandemic only multiplied her worries. She was told in the spring everything was shutting down because of COVID-19 and she had to wait to continue her search.
But after years of searching for an affordable home, tedious inspections and piles of paperwork that had her “signing her life away,” Cobb closed on the house around Sept. 30 — an accomplishment she dubbed “surreal.”
“I’m a single mom, I sent my son to Catholic school and I’m not making a lot of money, so it was all on me and it was something that I wasn’t sure I would be able to accomplish,” Cobb said, adding that she knew it would be a “really big responsibility” jumping from renter to homeowner.
But now, heading into Christmas, she said she feels joyful as she prepares for a simple holiday celebration with close family members in her own home.
“It’s my first holiday as a homeowner,” she said. “My first Christmas as a homeowner so I’m very excited.”
Twitter @KelliSmithNews
