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The Preservation Compact is a policy collaborative that develops programs and policies to preserve affordable rental housing. We work with a diverse group of partners, from government and community groups to market-rate developers. We work together to identify preservation challenges, analyze gaps in the marketplace, and execute strategies to drive concrete results. We serve as a central information hub about affordable rental preservation in the Chicago metropolitan area.

CIC is the Chicago metropolitan area’s leading lender for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable rental housing. The Preservation Compact is housed at CIC, and Compact staff are also CIC staff. CIC is also home to innovative financing programs developed by The Preservation Compact, including a $48 million loan fund and acquisition pool for 1-4 unit buildings, and a $34 million low-cost financing to encourage affordability in higher cost markets. Being located at CIC means The Preservation Compact benefits from CIC’s expertise about markets and neighborhoods, and the small entrepreneurial businesses own most of the unsubsidized affordable rental housing in the country.

No, Compact staff work for CIC.

The Preservation Compact’s Leadership Committee covers only a handful of our partners. Depending on the topic at hand, we gather working groups of experts on the ground, and we reach out and respond to individual partners to address specific preservation topics on a daily basis.

The Chicago region is home to a rich housing, grassroots, and development community, but no one organization is absolutely focused on affordable rental preservation. The Compact is a central table for coordinating preservation strategies. Our success is rooted in the deep expertise of our partners. As a central hub, we help minimize duplication of efforts on preservation issues.

The Interagency Council works with The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Illinois Housing Finance Authority, The City of Chicago, Cook County, and tenant advocates to identify and develop preservation strategies on individual properties, and to educate and encourage coordination among governments on preservation policies and programs.

For every preservation strategy the Compact tackles, we work closely with appropriate government partners to identify ways they can support and strengthen our efforts.

We focus on preserving affordable rental housing, which could be government assisted housing, or unsubsidized, or Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH). Preservation means keeping the properties in good condition, and keeping rents affordable when possible. Historic preservation is a completely different issue.

Typically housing is “affordable” when households pay 30% or less of their income toward housing costs. The government has its own definitions of affordability when they invest money into properties.

Sometimes referred to as NOAH, naturally occurring affordable housing means housing that does not receive government assistance. In order to have naturally low rents usually, these buildings are usually located in lower cost markets. When prices and values are lower, rents will also be lower. NOAH comprises 75%+ of the affordable rental stock across the country.

When values and prices are lower on buildings, owners can charge lower rents. That being said, even the lowest rents cannot go below basic costs to operate a building. For instance, a typical building in the Chicago area cannot have a rent much lower than $600, because the owner has to pay their mortgage, utilities, taxes, maintenance costs, and other bills such as garbage pick-up and other fees.

In 2005, the housing markets were booming, and condo conversions were spreading like wildfire. Public policies focused on increasing homeownership, and the supply of affordable rental housing was declining quickly. In the midst of this run-up, the MacArthur Foundation and others recognized the limits of homeownership and that preserving existing affordable rental housing was dramatically more efficient than building new units.

The Preservation Compact was created to drive intentional, coordinated strategies that preserve affordable rental housing. Launched in 2007, The Preservation Compact is a collaboration of for-profit and non-profit developers, tenant advocacy groups, civic groups, lenders, and federal, state, and local government agencies. Since its launch, The Preservation Compact and its partners have helped to create real preservation solutions and a lasting policy framework.

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