Welcome!

The Interfaith Housing Center has been north suburban Chicago's premier advocate for fair and affordable housing since 1972. We foster open communities. It's the right thing to do. And it makes our communities better places to live.

WHAT WE DO:

Services: We provide services to individuals who face housing discrimination, foreclosure, and conflict with their landlord or management company. We also provide a Homesharing Program matching people with an extra room with people seeking affordable housing in the northern suburbs.
Advocacy & Education: Through grassroots organizing, by acting as a resource to local leaders, in hosting workshops and forums, in public advocacy, Interfaith lends support for concerted fair and affordable housing efforts.

Our membership includes scores of local residents and more than 60 civic organizations and congregations. We encourage everyone's involvement, regardless of religious affiliation.

Highlights!

^New! Global Crisis, Local Solutions: Getting Beyond the Housing Credit Crunch
Join us for our 2008 Annual Meeting, Sunday, October 26, 2008, 3 - 5 p.m., at Hemenway United Methodist Church, 933 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Ed Jacob, Manager & CEO of the North Side Community Federal Credit Union, who has worked for years to level the financial services playing field for low- and moderate-income families, will be the keynote speaker. The Annual Meeting will also include a brief report about Interfaith's fair and affordable housing work over the past year, including the agency's exponential increase in the number of foreclosure prevention interventions. The event is free and all are welcome. Refreshments will be served. Click here for a flyer. For more information or to RSVP, please complete and return this form, or you may contact Margaret Feit Clarke by phone, (847) 501-3278, Ext. 501, or e-mail: margaret@interfaithhousingcenter.org

^New!JOIN "UNITED WE LEARN": United We Learn is a grassroots North Shore campaign that advocates for reasoned, equitable solutions that would no longer put Illinois public school children at a significant disadvantage if they live in low-income communities. Parents, religious leaders, teachers, and Interfaith catalyzed United We Learn to organize support for welcoming hundreds of Chicago students when they came to New Trier High School on September 2, 2008 with State Sen. Rev. James Meeks as part of a school funding protest.

United We Learn

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HOMESHARING IN THE NEWS: Homeowners and renters cope with the economic downturn together:
Chicagoland Cable Television newly released 3-minute news video clip aired August 4, 2008 demonstrates how people earning low or modest wages and homeowners struggling with large mortgages are turning to Homesharing to help them cope with rising housing costs. The intersection between foreclosures and Homesharing as an income solution is also featured in The New York Times Homes at Risk, Owners Take in Boarders and the Evanston Roundtable, Mortgage Foreclosures Accelerating, Gap in High-Cost Loans, Taking in Boarders to Make Ends Meet. For more information on Homesharing, contact Jackie Grossmann, (847) 501-5732, ext. 401, e-mail: jackie@interfaithhousingcenter.org

You Did It! Full Page Fair Housing Ad a Success!
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the federal Fair Housing Act, and in recognition of the importance of "on the ground," grassroots and widespread support for an inclusive, diverse, and non-discriminatory community, the Interfaith Housing Center published a full-page signature ad in the Pioneer Press on May 1, 2008 expressing broad based support for fair housing. 566 individuals who live or work in Chicago's northern suburbs, congregations, and organizations signed on to this important declaration of support for a fair, open, and affordable region. For more information, please contact Gail, (847) 501-5760, or e-mail: gail@interfaithhousingcenter.org

INTERFAITH HUD-CERTIFIED TO SAVE HOMES
After years of assisting victims of predatory lending, as of March 2008, Interfaith has been approved as a HUD-certified housing counseling agency specializing in mortgage delinquency, loss mitigation, and fair housing assistance. For more information, please contact Jasmine, (847) 501-5768, ext. 404, or e-mail: jasmine@interfaithhousingcenter.org

NEWSLETTER: Read the Interfaith Newsletters!
Get the latest news on Interfaith activities and find out about our progress on local housing issues in the Spring 2008 Newsletter To view a Pioneer Press story on Homesharing, "Program finds roommates to help folks stay in their houses", November 1, 2007.

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Volunteer for Interfaith!
Volunteer as a Fair Housing Tester. Interfaith needs individuals to pose as home seekers and document their experiences. The data testers provide helps Interfaith ascertain whether people are treated unfairly by landlords, real estate professionals, or financial institutions. Interfaith pays volunteers a modest stipend for this important work. We encourage individuals of all races, ethnicities and physical abilities to contact Brendan, (847) 501-4352, or e-mail: brendan@interfaithhousingcenter.org for more information.

GOT HOUSING RIGHTS?: YES, YOU DO!
Learn fair housing basics with "Stop Discrimination!" translated here in 7 different languages. Download any of four Fair Housing Fact Sheets that teach Older Adults, residents of Mobile/Manufactured Home Communities, Homeowners’ & Condo Associations, and Victims of Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault how to protect against housing discrimination. These fact sheets are also available in Polish, Russian, and Spanish.

Check out our new 6-page Resource Guide with readings and referrals for learners of all ages. This compilation lists children’s books, adult non-fiction, journals, community organizations, videos that teach about housing justice and living in diverse neighborhoods.

FAIR HOUSING HISTORY DISPLAY: Equal Housing in the Northern Suburbs
Learn about the historic struggle for housing justice in Chicago's northern suburbs. Interfaith, together with Shorefront, Inc., an Evanston-based archive of African-American history in the area, developed this exhibit which has toured six communities thanks to a grant from HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program. Click here for photos of the display panel and for a slide show presentation version of this traveling exhibit. For more information about this exhibit, please contact Margaret (847) 501-5760, or e-mail: margaret@interfaithhousingcenter.org

DR. KING ON NORTH SHORE COMMEMORATION: Photostory of July 25, 2007 Dedication
Inspired by the King Day 2007 panel discussion sponsored by Interfaith and the Winnetka Historical Society, Washburne Junior High School social studies students and their teacher, Cecilia Gigiolio, successfully campaigned to install a historic marker on the Winnetka Village Green on the 42nd anniversary of King's speech at the largest rally ever on the North Shore for fair and integrated, non-discriminatory housing. The 1965 rally, which attracted between 8,000 and 10,000 people, was organized by the grassroots North Shore Summer Project, from which the Interfaith Housing Center descends.

Updated 10/06/08 gs

Web site designed by Karleen Stevens McAllester

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