Date Published:
April 6th, 2022
Produced by researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, a new report discusses the work Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) has done since 2011 in helping stabilize Chicago’s Woodlawn’s neighborhood’s housing stock in the wake of the Great Recession, which hit in 2008. The project attracted more than $400 million in federal, state, and city funding, along with additional resources from various private and nonprofit partners. The study finds important neighborhood outcomes, including greater racial and income diversity:
- Median household income in Woodlawn increased between 2000-2018, from $25,632 to $29,728
- Households with children had the largest income growth
- Woodlawn grew more racially diverse, with an increase in White (4.3% to 9.7%), Latinx (1.1% to 3.2%), and Asian (1.2% to 4.2%) residents
- Crime rates fell steadily year-over-year beginning in 2000, from 22.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in 2012—more than 200 percent higher than the citywide rate—to 18 crimes per 1,000 residents in 2019
- Homeownership rates increased: renter-occupied units decreased (-14.7%), while owner-occupied units increased (23.1%) from 2000-2018