Blog

June 11, 2021

Using Data and Community Engagement Collaborations to Guide an Equitable COVID-19 Recovery

With support from Urban Institute's National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, the Institute for Housing Studies partnered with Communities United and Elevated Chicago to engage community members experiencing disproportionate impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more here about how data and community-driven narratives can guide equitable COVID-19 response and recovery efforts in Chicago.

May 13, 2021

Guest Blog: The Need for a Collective Approach to Preserving 2 to 4 Unit Housing in Chicago

This guest blog, co-authored by a group of Chicago housing organizations, responds to IHS's recent analysis on the importance of and threats to 2 to 4 unit buildings in Chicago. It emphasizes the disproportionate health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across Chicago’s communities of color; the potential implications for the stability of Chicago’s 2 to 4 unit housing stock; and the urgent need for coordinated actions to address existing needs of families that rely on the affordability that 2 to 4 flats provide.

January 11, 2021

New Stories Added to Mapping Stories of Neighborhood Change Tool

IHS recently updated our Mapping Stories of Neighborhood Change mapping tool to include neighborhood news stories published in 2020 mapped alongside our updated Mapping Displacement Pressure data. The mapping tool provides users with spatial, housing market, and demographic context and to assess the potential implications of the activities described in each article.

Indicators and Data Tools   December 8, 2020

New Data Available on IHS’s Housing Market Indicators Data Portal

IHS recently expanded its Housing Market Indicators data portal to include additional information on neighborhood demographic and economic characteristics. These data will provide portal users with additional context to understand factors that may affect housing market activity in their communities.

October 29, 2020

Swimming Against the Tide: An Update on COVID-19 Housing Policy Interventions

This blog revisits local, state, and federal policy interventions that emerged during the beginning months of the COVID-19 crisis. Short term supports have been critical for those able to access relief, but many of the most critical economic supports have expired and stopgap measures to temporarily extend these programs are not enough to alleviate the current economic hardship faced by many households. Read more about how these policy interventions have evolved since the first stimulus package.

June 29, 2020

Building Community Data Capacity: Developing a Model to Preserve Affordable Housing in Uncertain Times

IHS provides data and technical assistance for Communities United (CU)— a community-based organization based in Albany Park which also serves Austin, Belmont-Cragin, Roseland, and West Ridge, on the Northwest, West, and South sides of Chicago— and its housing initiative Renters Organizing Ourselves to Stay (ROOTS). This blog highlights some of this work and how it has been used by Communities United.

June 5, 2020

Policy Interventions to Respond to the Housing Impacts of COVID-19

How have policymakers responded to help communities weather the economic crisis resulting from COVID-19? This blog is part of our recent series examining the impact of the pandemic in Chicago neighborhoods and highlights local, state, and federal policy interventions that aim to provide housing and financial stability during a time of economic uncertainty. As the duration of large-scale unemployment and long-term impacts of the pandemic remain unclear, these policy approaches are evolving and fast-moving to respond to changing needs.

May 18, 2020

Taking a Closer Look at COVID-19’s Possible Impact on Cook County Homeowners

A recent IHS blog provided a preliminary analysis of the rental housing market implications of a COVID-19-related economic downturn. This brief follow-up blog takes a closer look at homeownership and provides an initial analysis of how a COVID-19 related economic downturn could impact homeowners in Cook County.

April 30, 2020

Examining the Neighborhood-Level Housing Impact of COVID-19 in Chicago: A Preliminary Analysis

To support Chicago-area housing and community development practitioners as they think through the need for housing and place-based interventions, the Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) has created a new analysis to highlight the potential economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on households with workers in occupations more vulnerable to mass layoffs.

March 17, 2020

Building Community Data Capacity: Informing Innovative Strategies to Rebuild Demand in Greater Chatham

As part of our new series that highlights examples of IHS technical assistance projects, this blog shares about a partnership between IHS and Greater Chatham Initiative.