Cook County’s low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, which saw the greatest impact from the foreclosure and economic crisis, are still struggling when it comes to securing lending for multifamily housing, according to a report from the Institute of Housing Studies at DePaul University. The MacArthur-supported report found that the county overall has seen a lending recovery for multifamily housing, but that is largely been led by increases in larger multifamily loans in higher-income neighborhoods. Since 2005, there has been a decline of 48 percent in multifamily mortgages less than $1 million, indicating that small rental buildings in lower-income neighborhoods are struggling to secure financing.
