SACRED APARTMENTS: ANCHORING A COMMUNITY

In the heart of South Chicago, a new development is reshaping the conversation around affordable housing. The SACRED Apartments – short for Sacred Affordable Commercial Real Estate Development –represent a major step forward for a neighborhood long in need of equitable housing solutions. With a median income of just $42,456, significantly below the area median income according to 2019–2023 American Community Survey estimates, the community has faced persistent housing challenges for decades.

The project is the result of a strategic partnership formed in 2019 between Angela Hurlock, CEO of Claretian Associates, and Perry Vietti, President of Interfaith Housing Development Corporation. Sharing a common vision for community revitalization, the two leaders believed that by joining forces, they could better address the region’s deep-rooted housing crisis. Their collaboration led to a $400,000 Predevelopment Line of Credit from the CCLF, which helped move the vision toward reality.

According to The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024 report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, “Rental affordability is the worst on record. The number of renters with cost burdens (those who spend more than 30 percent of household income on housing and utilities) has hit an all-time high, and the stock of low-rent units has continued to fall.” SACRED Apartments was created to help address this problem.

Families were a big consideration when this project was conceived. This 5-story, 81-unit structure has various unit sizes ranging from studios to four-bedroom apartments. Because the development is designed to serve the entire community, 17 units are dedicated to housing formerly homeless residents. The building also will have 6,000 square feet of retail space on the street level that is planned for a grocery store and other amenities.

This is a project that was more than three decades in the making. “Three decades, far before I even came, there were plans for this land and we were just not able to get it done until now. And we have so many people to thank for that,” Hurlock explains. “But this land has held the hopes and the dreams of so many families here in South Chicago. It’s held your dreams because this is what you wanted to see developed 35 years ago.”

Angela Hurlock

SACRED Apartments was a finalist for the Chicago Prize in 2021 winning a $500,000 matching grant from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation.

This structure is the catalyst for the neighborhood transformation. It will be the start of a much broader initiative. “A long-term investment in the community… and in my mind, that’s money well spent. Money that’s going to serve hundreds of people is going to redevelop the community and provide hope to so many people,” states Perry Vietti, President of Interfaith Housing Development Corporation.

Perry Vietti

“The Sacred Apartments development was brought together by IHDC, Claretian Associates, CCLF, and various other partners who had a common goal of providing quality affordable housing in the city’s South Chicago neighborhood,” explains Kelly Sheldon, CCLF Senior Asset Manager.