The Southwest Foreclosure Project
(1/1/2002-1/1/2005)
CURL worked with the Southwest Organizing Project (and their membership organizations), Neighborhood Housing Services (Chicago Lawn/Gage Park) and the Greater Southwest Development Corporation and examined the causes, effects, and potential solutions of home mortgage foreclosures in the Chicago Lawn and Gage Park neighborhoods. This project sought to identify where in these community areas foreclosures were most prevalent, and to determine what characteristics of these parts of the neighborhood (usually census tracts) made them more likely to experience high foreclosures. Furthermore, we wanted to examine the cause of mortgages going into foreclosure – namely whether specific types of loans were more likely to result in foreclosures than others, whether specific actors (realtors, lenders, et. al.) connected to higher rates of foreclosure, and what types of borrowers went into foreclosure.
The primary goals of this study was to identify 1) why foreclosures occurred in these neighborhoods; 2) why they were clustered in certain areas within the communities; 3) how the foreclosure rate relates to vacant houses; and 4) possible ways of dealing with this problem.
A report was given to the organization along with a profile book providing demographic and housing data for census tracts within the communities.
Research Team:
P. Nyden, CURL
N. Benefield Graduate Fellow, Political Science
S. Dwyer
T. Garnett
D. Hannah
A. Falcone
David McDowell, Southwest Organizing Project
L.L. Ang, Undergraduate Fellow
Community Partners:
Neighborhood Housing Services