CCLF Profile: Urban Equities, Inc.Ever dream about owning your own home on a quiet tree-lined street-with enough bedrooms so your oldest can finally have her own room-and a huge kitchen with a wall of windows so you can keep an eye on your kids while they play in the backyard?
Thanks to Urban Equities, Inc. and CCLF, the Williams family's dream came true. He is a buyer for a university hospital and she works at home raising their three children. They took advantage of the purchase price assistance provided by the New Homes For Chicago program to buy a home large enough to accommodate their growing family.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this story is that the firm that built the Williamses' house is a FOR-PROFIT developer. Lennox Jackson, president of Urban Equities Inc., describes himself as a "capitalist with a conscience." CCLF made available to Urban Equities a $75,000 predevelopment line of credit to build 29 new, affordable-market-rate, single-family homes in the Grand Crossing/Avalon Park neighborhood on Chicago's south side. This is exactly the kind of project CCLF envisioned when the fund rolled out our "for-profit" predeveloment loan product.
Mr. Jackson is emphatic that his firm builds quality housing--no matter who the buyers are or where the homes are built. His firm has built over 90 new homes throughout Chicago; most of the new owners are low- to moderate-income families.