Winter Updates for Housing

Operation H.E.L.P. (Housing Education Leadership and Policy) impacted more than  than 73,678 families in more than 44 community areas across Illinois in its two-year operation, which provided housing counseling services, case management, referrals, trainings and workshops to community leaders, landlords and tenants in foreclosure and participated in dissipating  foreclosure prevention resource information in housing fairs and community events.

As a result of this project, seven of the participating organizations in the collaboration have increased their capacity by developing housing programs to assist the needs of their communities  and are in the process of becoming HUD approved agencies. Click Here for more information about this project.

On November 18, the Latino Policy Forum facilitated one of its first TECHO (Training and Education Creates Housing Opportunities) workshops aimed at educating the community on basic housing rights. Six staff members at LUCHA were trained on the TECHO  curriculum to learn about best practices addressing rental properties and how to use TECHO materials with their clients.

TECHO’s interactive trainings are available to all community-based organizations and increase the capacity of nonprofit agencies serving Latinos to work on issues such as discrimination, foreclosures, affordable housing, fair housing and the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance. Interested in hosting a training session? Contact Gypsy Gavia.

Finally, this January, the housing team will host a Promotores De Vivenda Justa (Fair Housing Ambassadors) orientation for interested students from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, January 13 in Chicago. Student volunteers are needed to support the work of the Forum to engage and empower Latino households by providing leadership, peer education, support, and resources to ensure equal access to housing options. Visit the Fair Housing Promotores page for more information.