U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen brought his affordable housing push to Peoria Tuesday, spotlighting a Neighborhood House effort to renovate vacant homes and sell them to working families.
The Moline Democrat toured both the 130-year-old social service agency on South Matthew Street, then walked through one of the vacant houses being rehabilitated through the Reclaim Peoria initiative.
Sorensen pointed to two roles for himself: He said he fought to pass a sweeping housing bill now awaiting the president's signature, and he wants to take Peoria's rehab model back to Washington to push for federal funding that could scale it — here and in other cities.
"Too many people are working as hard as they can; they're doing everything right, but they still can't grasp the good life, because an affordable home is out of reach," Sorensen said. "That's not the future that our neighbors deserve in Peoria."
The 21st Century Road to Housing Act passed the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32 in June. The signing has stalled as President Trump canceled a planned June 24 ceremony.
Among other provisions, the act streamlines environmental reviews to speed up construction, expands FHA financing for small dollar mortgages, allows community development block grants to fund new affordable housing and restricts large institutional investors from buying up single family homes.
"It cuts red tape, expands help for first-time homebuyers, protects renters, speeds up the construction of more affordable homes," Sorensen said.
The Tuesday visit spotlighted Reclaim Peoria, a partnership between the Peoria Opportunities Foundation, Neighborhood House and the Peoria City/County Health Department to renovate vacant south side homes and sell them to working families.
Irina Riggenbach, the executive director of the Peoria Opportunities Foundation, the nonprofit affordable housing developer behind the effort, said the group currently has funding to renovate five homes.
"Five homes is just a drop in the bucket," Riggenbach said. "Our goal is 500 homes, so 500 families can build wealth, 500 families can strengthen the south side."
Sorensen added, “You can't ramp up from zero to 500, right? But you can ramp up from five to 500 because you figure out how to do it.”
Asked whether the project would turn a profit, Riggenbach said there "really is no profit" and broke down the budget. She said the foundation buys vacant houses for roughly $30,000-$40,000, puts about $140,000 of renovations into each one and sells them for around $75,000, with a health department grant covering the gap.
"When you define affordable housing, you're basically saying that somebody is not spending more than 30% of their income on their housing," Riggenbach said, "whether that be their mortgage or their rent."
"Renting a house doesn't build up that generational wealth," she added. "By having homeownership opportunities, it gives families an ability to invest in their own house... leave something for their families and their next generation."
The foundation isn't providing mortgages, Riggenbach said. Buyers have to qualify on their own, though the partners connect families to down payment assistance and have hosted homebuyer workshops with lenders at Neighborhood House.
Neighborhood House President and CEO Julie Bonar said the partnership is about more than the sale.
"They're not just putting some lipstick on these houses; they're making the houses move-in ready," Bonar said. "There won't be work for the new homebuyers to have to put into the house for many years to come."
Asked whether the project could eventually build new homes rather than just renovate existing ones, Riggenbach said the current grant only covers renovations, but new construction is on the table.
"There's, I think, over 800 vacant lots in the south side of Peoria, and so filling those vacant lots is absolutely part of that long-term vision," she said.
Sorensen said the case for him comes back to the family budget.
"When we can lower the cost of housing, it means that our neighbors have more money in their pockets to be able to pay for the other things that they need to live," he said.
Neighborhood House marks its 130th anniversary in September.
