housing

The DeKalb City Council on Monday voted unanimously on a settlement to require Hunter Properties to sell some of its holdings.

The DeKalb City Council delivered an agreement requiring the controversial landlord to sell four of its apartment buildings. City Manager Bill Nicklas said that the only solution to years of Hunter’s scores of violations and unpaid fines is a change in ownership.

There’s a new housing rental assistance program available in areas around Cherry Valley.

The Community Action Agency announced housing assistance funds are available to those who experienced hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic. $69,000 dollars will go to residents in the 61016 zip code for immediate use, which the state health department has deemed as especially impacted by the pandemic. 

This week, Governor Pritzker and the IDHA announced that the deadline to apply for rental assistance has been extended by one week to August 28th.

Conversations at the DeKalb County government’s second virtual forum on race relations broadened this week. Demands for improved housing agreements took center stage.  

Jacob Maas voiced concern about uneven housing conditions and agreements that he says are prevalent in the county. 

“You know, we live in a community where it's not uncommon for people who rent to go without hot water, clean water, heat in the winter air conditioning in the summer,” said Maas.

This project is done in collaboration with The Northern Star. You can read their reporting on a new solar farm at Suburban Apartments and Estates here. You can also hear about how this collaboration came to be here. 

WNIJ and the Northern Star are collaborating to take a closer look at Suburban Apartments in DeKalb.  It’s a large complex near Annie Glidden Road which houses many students. It’s also the site of a proposed solar garden. WNIJ News Director Jenna Dooley recently sat down with the reporters working on this series to learn more about the project.

Noah Thornburgh is news editor of the Northern Star. He says the reporting began in early September when he asked a pair of reporters in his newsroom to learn more about a solar project at the complex.

About a mile away from Northern Illinois University’s campus in DeKalb, a nice 2-story house on the corner of Woodlawn Drive is vacant. The only sign of wear in sight is on a small metal sign in the freshly cut yard where the address is slowly rusting away. 

Built in 1955, this house has been home to the presidents of NIU. But, when Dr. Lisa Freeman was hired last year, she already had a home in DeKalb.

Efforts to end homelessness in Rockford have been nationally recognized. Community members have achieved a "functional zero" of veteran and chronically homeless populations. Now, the focus is turning to other populations.

For the last few weeks, we've been looking at housing problems in the DeKalb area. What does resolution look like as the community works to revitalize struggling neighborhoods?

DeKalb community members have been considering housing conditions when some local buildings were damaged during suspected arsons. 

One of these cases occurred at 808 Ridge Drive in early July. 

This piece is part three in a series about housing conditions in DeKalb. Tune in Friday, August 2, for the last update in this series.

Last week, we took a look at the controversial history between the city of DeKalb and Hunter Properties, a large local rental property owner. A network of DeKalb community efforts are addressing crimes reported at apartments, which have recently been under the microscope.