Preserving Owners to Preserve NOAH

Markets, People, and Strategies in Chicago and Los Angeles

Webinar Overview

The Preservation Compact, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the City of Chicago Department of Housing discussed preserving Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH).

This webinar highlighted two sets of NOAH preservation strategies: a new initiative in South Los Angeles to support local rental property owners with smaller portfolios, and several existing NOAH efforts in Chicago. By digging into targeted approaches, this panel illustrated how different owner and market dynamics drive thorny challenges – and concrete solutions – to preserve the NOAH stock.

Panelists

Ruby Bolaria is the Director of the Housing Affordability program at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). CZI is dedicated to finding solutions that make housing more affordable so people from all backgrounds and income levels can live, work, and thrive in California. Prior to CZI, Ruby worked in real estate development as a project manager for multifamily mixed income projects in San Francisco and has experience in commercial real estate. She also worked internationally at the Housing Department in Johannesburg, South Africa where she managed an in-situ upgrading pilot project. She started her career as an organizer for environmental and social justice organizations like Earthjustice and Corporate Accountability International. Ruby has a strong commitment to equity and social justice and brings her unique mix of advocacy and technical experience to CZI’s housing work. She holds a BA in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.


Bryan Esenberg is the Managing Deputy Commissioner for DOH Programs at the City of Chicago’s Department of Housing. Committed to improving housing choice for all residents, Esenberg has been instrumental in the acquisition and development of affordable programs for homeownership, rental and neighborhood development across the City of Chicago. Esenberg was a leading driver of the department’s move to improving the transparency and process for the City’s Qualified Allocation Plan of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), overseeing the LIHTC allocation process for over $100M of LIHTC and Federal resources for MF development annually, producing approximately 1,200 units per year. Esenberg began his affordable housing career at Neighborhood Housing Services Redevelopment Corporation (NHSRC). He holds a BA in Economics from Indiana University, a MA in Real Estate from the University of Illinois, Chicago and is a 2019 Alumnus of the University of Chicago Civic Leadership Academy.


John G. (Jack) Markowski is President of Community Investment Corporation (CIC), the leading source of loans for the rehabilitation of multifamily residential buildings in the Chicago area. Capitalized by investments from 45 financial institutions, since 1984, CIC has originated $1.3 billion in loans for the acquisition and rehabilitation of 2,300 buildings with 59,000 units. From 1999 through June 2007, Markowski served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Housing. During his tenure, the Department spent more than $3 billion to assist more than 100,000 housing units in Chicago, including more than 5,200 SRO units, 5,700 units for senior housing, and 2,000 new single family homes. Markowski holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. He is a longtime resident of Chicago’s Edgewater community.


Stacie Young is Director of The Preservation Compact, a policy collaborative to preserve affordable rental housing. Located at CIC, the Compact brings together all levels of government, for-profit developers, non-profit developers, lenders, civic groups and grassroots community groups to drive preservation strategies for Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing, as well as government assisted stock. Accomplishments include creating a $34 million fund for high cost markets; convening an intergovernmental group to preserve 6,200 subsidized units; driving building code relief for multifamily rental rehab; expanding utility funding for energy efficiency in rental properties; creating a $48 million loan pool for 1-4 unit buildings. Prior to her work with the Compact, Young worked for the City of Chicago’s Office of the Mayor as Assistant to the Mayor for Affordability, the Chicago Department of Housing as the Director of Policy and Research, and Diversity Inc. She completed her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University, and received her master’s degree from the Harris School at the University of Chicago.


Stephen Rich Jr. is a co-founder of the Blue Whale Collective. He operates 150 units of affordable rental housing, primarily located on the south side of Chicago.


Additional Resources

Learn more about these programs and other resources:

Resources for Illinois property owners and tenants affected by COVID-19:


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