While we continue to see a rising housing affordability crisis, last month marked a significant victory for community-led advocacy: the successful preservation of the Leland Apartments in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

Mercy Housing Lakefront, in partnership with ONE Northside, came together with residents, housing advocates, and elected officials to celebrate the years-long fight to save the Leland Apartments from foreclosure!

Why it matters:

• 107 affordable homes, in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, are being preserved by Mercy Housing Lakefront as deeply affordable housing.
• The Leland Apartments will soon undergo much-needed rehabilitation and physical repairs, preserving a 100-year-old building as an affordable home for many decades.

Mercy Housing Lakefront’s Interim President, Fatmah Farraj , shared from the podium: “The Leland has provided an essential home in Uptown for 100 years, and Mercy Housing is honored to help carry that legacy forward. Preserving this historic building means honoring the residents who have built a community here, protecting deeply affordable housing and ensuring the Leland remains a welcoming, stable home for generations to come.”

The preservation of this building is being made possible by many departments, agencies and programs working together.

The Leland will benefit from:

• 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits provided by Illinois Housing Development Authority
• Federal Historic Tax Credits
• State Historic Tax Credits
• IHDA Soft Funds
• Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Grant
• IHDA Affordable Housing Tax Credits
• TIF Funding from the City of Chicago
• A master lease with Trilogy to provide its “Pathways” supportive housing program providing case management, supportive services, health services, and 24-hour service availability to 41 chronically homeless residents with complex behavioral and co-occurring health needs referred to the program by the Chicago Continuum of Care
• 44 Chicago Housing Authority project-based vouchers with services provided by Mercy Housing Lakefront, meaning that now all residents in the building will pay only 30% of their income in rent (previously not all residents had subsidized rent)
• 22 HUD VASH vouchers with services provided by the VA to serve homeless veterans
• Private Philanthropy, including Schreiber Philanthropy and The Home Depot Foundation

A special thank you to Alderwoman Angela Clay, 46th Ward; Commissioner Lissette Castañeda, Chicago Department of Housing; and Illinois State Senator Mike Simmons, 7th District

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