Keep Our Homes

The Greater Southwest Development Corporation (GSDC),
The Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP), and the
Chicago Lawn Office of Neighborhood Housing Services Program (NHS) are the collaborating partners who are sponsoring the Keep Our Homes foreclosure intervention program. Greater Southwest Development Corporation is a nonprofit corporation committed to residential, commercial, and industrial revitalization efforts in Southwest Chicago.  The Southwest Organizing Project is an agency that is building a broad-based organization of churches, mosques, schools and other institutions in Southwest Chicago, which will enable families to exercise common values, determine their own future and connect with each other in order to improve life in our neighborhoods.Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago is a nonprofit organization committed to offering Chicago residents affordable resources so they can buy, maintain and sustain their home. These partners boast a membership that consists of the leading businesses, churches/parishes/mosques, ethnic/cultural centers, schools, and service providers in Southwest Chicago.

Neighborhoods on Chicago’s southwest side are clearly threatened by sub-prime and predatory lending practices and loan products. Practices and products that have resulted in the nationwide housing crisis that we now face. By advocating and organizing for foreclosure prevention and housing stabilization in our neighborhoods, we hope to address economic and human capital drain. Our aim is to stabilize the housing market neighbor by neighbor, block by block, through relational outreach, organizing, and advocacy. GSDC, SWOP and the Chicago Lawn office of NHS are committed to developing a comprehensive array of strategies to address this sub-prime mortgage dilemma.

We have received generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, Bank of America, Marquette Bank, the Mander Foundation, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation/New Communities Program, the City of Chicago, the United States Dept. of Housing & Urban Development, Illinois Housing Development Authority, and Illinois House Speaker, Michael Madigan.