Sweet Home Chicago Policy Reports

1.“A Drop in the Bucket: An Analysis of Resources to Address Home Foreclosures in Chicago”, Sweet Home Chicago Coalition, Julie Dworkin, & Casey Wittekind, 2010.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is Chicago’s primary source of funds to redevelop neighborhoods devastated by the home foreclosure crisis. Yet NSP is able to fund a minute fraction of the resources needed to effectively address the crisis. The city of Chicago has another available resource, Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which could be used in a similar way to the way NSP dollars are used, though they are not currently being allocated for this purpose.

2.Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Funding and Affordable Housing: An analysis of current TIF resources and City of Chicago TIF-funded housing 1995-2008,  Julie Dworkin, 2009

TIF districts were created to promote revitalization of blighted or struggling neighborhoods, and the availability of affordable housing is instrumental to a neighborhood’s stability. Unfortunately, the city’s policy on the use of TIF funds for housing has not gone far enough to adequately address the fundamental need for affordable housing in developing neighborhoods. Expenditures on affordable housing have accounted for too small of a percentage of TIF funds. An even smaller percentage of TIF funds have supported housing affordable to people in the neighborhoods in which it is built and for those with the greatest housing needs.

3. “Who’s Getting Your Tax Dollars?”, Sweet Home Chicago Coalition, 2009

This report profiles corporations receiving Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money from downtown TIFs since 2000. Where public data is available, it shows the profits for these corporations as well as CEO compensation.