Community Organizations Come Together To Stress The Importance Of Home Ownership

The Resident Association of Greater Englewood (RAGE) will host Buy The Block on May 4 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Teamwork Englewood, 815 W. 63rd St. on the second floor. Photo Credit: The Resident Association of Greater Englewood
The Resident Association of Greater Englewood (RAGE) will host Buy The Block on May 4 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Teamwork Englewood, 815 W. 63rd St. on the second floor. Photo Credit: The Resident Association of Greater Englewood

Community Organizations Come Together To Stress The Importance Of Home Ownership

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Resident Association of Greater Englewood (RAGE) along with Teamwork Englewood and the Englewood Quality of Life Plan Housing and Public Spaces Task Force will be hosting Buy the Block to provide useful information and tools for individuals looking to purchase property in Englewood. The event will take place at Teamwork Englewood, 815 W. 63rd St. on the second floor, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 4.

“I saw that there was a national movement for black people to start reinvesting in the communities that we deem as ghettos or as being impoverished and I wanted to really localize that. In Englewood, we only have 27 percent of people who own and live here and I wanted to know how we can change and increase that number,” said Asiaha Butler, co-founder and executive director of RAGE.

Butler said that she knew there were plenty of agencies in Chicago providing valuable assistance and resources for potential homebuyers and that this event is not meant to replace those services but more so to encourage homeownership in Englewood specifically.

“We didn’t want to duplicate any efforts but we did want to create a campaign that would really push people to that aspiration of home ownership. We exaggerate by saying that we are gonna buy the whole block just because we want to give people that thought and aspiration to take their first step homeownership,” said Butler.

While Butler claims that buying the whole block is just an exaggeration, it is something she has actually already begun to do.

“I bought my first two-flat in Englewood in 2002 and then I purchased another one on my block in 2005, then I purchased a large lot for $1 so I’m an advocate of buying the block and I’ve shown how that can happen. I’ve modeled how you can buy the block and also how it can help you stabilize your block,” said Butler.

Home ownership is important in a community like Englewood where there is a lack of investment and a greater risk of violence. Homeownership can connect people to their community and give them a sense of pride in where they live.

“From a personal standpoint, buying my first two-flat in Englewood gave me a sense of ownership and it gave me a stake in the community where I live. Paying taxes on a home that contributes to our schools, our library, and our public spaces gives you some sense of ownership and pride of the community that you’re in,” said Butler.

There is a variety of homes available in Englewood, some that need renovations and some that don’t, and there is a variety of incentives for homebuyers, according to Butler.

“What Englewood has is a nice variety of two flats, some that need to be renovated and some that don’t,” said Butler. “It’s really a buyers market because most of our renters can actually afford a mortgage and may not even know it.”

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