Domestic Grantmaking : Affordable Housing

Affordable Housing

About our grantmaking

Recognizing the relationship between affordable housing and successful human and community development, MacArthur supports the Window of Opportunity initiative, which seeks to preserve the stock of affordable rental housing, and a comprehensive research program on how housing matters to families and communities.

Latest news

Former Residents of Chicago’s Madden/Wells Public Housing Now Live in Better Housing, Safer Neighborhoods

August 11, 2010

New research by the Urban Institute suggests that families that moved from Chicago’s Madden/Wells public housing community, as part of the city’s plan to transform public housing, now live in better housing and safer neighborhoods. More »

Grantee News, Press Releases

Study Finds That Rents Are Falling in Cook County [PDF]

July 16, 2010

A new study by DePaul University’s Institute for Housing Studies, a MacArthur grantee, states that rents have again declined in most housing markets in Cook County in the past year, while there were signs of emerging rent stabilization in lower-income communities in Chicago. Download the report » [PDF, 4 pg]

How Housing Matters to Children, Families & Communities

February 23, 2010

As part of a $25 million initiative, 13 institutions are receiving $6 million in competitive research grants seeking to produce a base of empirical evidence to show how housing affects children and adults. Learn more »

Press Releases

Creative New Venture Helps Communities Hit Hard by Foreclosures

May 19, 2009

The National Community Stabilization Trust, a new collaborative venture of nonprofit housing organizations, financial institutions, and private philanthropies — including the MacArthur Foundation — announced the launch of its national effort to help revitalize communities with high concentrations of foreclosed and abandoned homes. Read more »

Community & Economic Development, Press Releases

Preserving Affordable Rental Homes

February 26, 2009

Twelve states and cities are launching innovative projects to preserve more than 70,000 affordable rental homes, with $32.5 million in new support from the MacArthur Foundation. Read more »

Press Releases

$68 Million for Foreclosure Prevention and Mitigation in Chicago

October 15, 2008

To help combat the growing lending crisis and the rise of foreclosures in Chicago, the MacArthur is investing $68 million in grants and low-interest loans in foreclosure prevention and mitigation efforts in local neighborhoods. Read more »

Community & Economic Development, Press Releases

From the Field

Illinois Extends Tax Credit for Affordable Housing
August 26, 2010
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a bill to extend through 2016 the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit, a valuable tool in financing the creation and preservation of affordable rental housing. Chicago Rehab Network, a recipient of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, was instrumental in establishing the tax credit. The law provides a 50 percent state income tax credit for affordable housing and employer-assisted donations to qualified nonprofit affordable housing developers. The developers compete for allocations of the credit and sell the credits to raise funds to purchase, rehabilitate, and/or build, or provide financing, technical assistance, or general operating support for an approved affordable housing project. It is estimated that 15,000 jobs will be created as a result of the extension.

For more information

Call for Housing Research Proposals 2010 Competition: How Housing Matters »

MacArthur’s Window of Opportunity Initiative on rental housing preservation »

The Preservation Compact aims to reverse the loss of Chicago’s affordable rental housing »

Video

MacArthur's grantmaking in affordable rental housing »

Seizing the Opportunity: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing »

About MacArthur

The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, we work to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society.

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