Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs (also called Interfaith or IHCNS) is a membership-based, nonprofit organization serving as the premier advocate for fair and affordable housing in north suburban Chicago since 1972. ^[1] The central office is located at 620 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka, Illinois, 60093, a few miles north of Chicago near Lake Michigan. It provides a wide array of services to individuals in the service area including investigating complaints of housing discrimination, predatory lending, and landlord/tenant infractions; housing counseling to prevent foreclosures; and facilitating Homesharing (shared housing) matches. Interfaith also acts as the premier voice for fair and affordable housing through education, advocacy, and community organizing.

The Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs is designated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as an approved housing counseling agency ^[2]. Interfaith is an established organization with roots in the Civil Rights Movement, and remains the only active, grassroots civil rights group in the northern suburbs of Chicago.

Mission

The Center’s mission is to foster a housing market open to people of all ages and income levels, regardless of race, religion, family composition, or any of the other legally protected classes. ^[3]

In seeking to foster integrated and hospitable communities, the Interfaith Housing Center is committed to acting as an advocate for fair housing by conducting public education programs promoting community understanding and public support for fair housing. In addition, it acts as a resource to others seeking to ensure equal access to housing in their communities. The Center counsels people about available affordable housing options and acts as a mediator between providers and seekers of affordable housing on the North Shore. Finally, recognizing the importance of having a strong base of support among its member communities, the Center commits itself to strengthening its ties to the religious communities that supported its creation (revised and adopted September, 1998).

The 1972 original purpose for the creation of Interfaith Housing Center (then known as the North Shore Interfaith Housing Council) is listed below, and many of these objectives are still relevant today:

To provide an on-going vehicle for:

• Expression of the religious concern for more inclusive communities and the provision of housing for persons of moderate and low incomes
• Education of the religious community and the entire community on the housing problem and possible means for solving it
• Gathering data on the housing problem as it relates to the metropolitan area and the North Shore, including especially specific data about our communities and the need for low and moderate income housing
• Relating data about the housing problem to theological concerns and ethical values held in common by our religious communities
• Coordinating the housing efforts of various religious congregations and denominations on the North Shore
• Coordinating the efforts and concerns of the religious community with various secular organizations also concerned about the problem- The League of Women Voters, etc.
• Working specifically in cooperation with the Metropolitan Leadership Council as it seeks to implement the "fair share" plan in Chicago suburbs
• Preparing the way for and seeking to create a climate of acceptance for housing projects which might be privately developed or developed with public financing
• Undertaking specific projects- such as a leasing program for low and moderate income families- as this seems feasible and desirable

^[4]

Service Programs

Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs provides a wide variety of services to the individuals in its service area. Services address fair housing & discrimination complaints, landlord/tenant issues, foreclosure prevention, and predatory lending complaints. It also provides a Homesharing program in order to help match those people renting out an extra room in their home, with those people seeking to find more affordable housing in the northern Chicago suburbs. Interfaith's also provides education, community organizing, and advocacy programs.

Fair Housing and Discrimination Complaints

Interfaith Housing Center works to help those individuals that may have experienced housing discrimination.

All individuals are entitled to fair housing. Unfortunately, housing discrimination still occurs in the United States, but in a more subtle way than was previously experienced by those seeking housing. Instead of being turned away on the basis of color laws or other overtly discriminatory practices, now other methods are used to keep certain people out. Comments such as "You might not feel comfortable in this neighborhood," or "We don’t rent to more than three people for a two-bedroom apartment," may be a sign that you have been discriminated against. ^[5]

It is illegal to deny housing to anyone on the basis of their race, color, national origin, and sex according to the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which is commonly called the the Fair Housing Act (of April 1968), or FHA. ^[6] By 1988, the act was extended to protect those with disabilities, as well as families with children (familial status). "In addition, Illinois fair housing laws say that you may freely choose a place to live without regard to your age, ancestry, military discharge status, marital status, or sexual orientation. In Cook County, source of income and housing status (i.e., previous place of residence, such as a shelter) are protected." ^[7] Furthermore, many northern Chicago suburbs have laws protecting people against housing discrimination as well.

Interfaith Housing Center is a Fair Housing Initiatives Program grant recipient with over 30 years of experience in investigating claims of discrimination, testing for fair housing violations, and enforcing meritorious claims. ^[8] They also train volunteers to pose as home seekers as part of its fair housing testing program, which can be found at Volunteer at Interfaith Housing Center. Fair housing testers are critically important to verifying acts of discrimination. Its most recent settlement involving the use of testers was a familial status complaint, in which a Hispanic mother was refused a unit because she had a child. In 2008, HUD settled the complaint from Interfaith Housing Center. ^[9]

Landlord/Tenant Issues

Foreclosure Prevention

Predatory Lending Complaints

Homesharing program

Homesharing, also known as “share housing,” is a unique form of low-cost housing, intended to assist older adults to age in comfort in their homes and homeowners struggling financially to maintain their housing, while providing new housing opportunities for individual low-income home seekers.

Homesharing matches people looking for affordable housing in the northern suburbs with local residents who have an extra room in their homes. Arrangements can involve an exchange of rent or a combination of rent and services. Homesharing is a “win-win” program that benefits both parties to the agreement, home seeker and home provider, plus the communities in which they live. For the senior (usually the provider), Homesharing can provide extra income, home maintenance, in-home care, companionship, and, above all, the opportunity to stay in the home. Communities win as well, with an improved, fully occupied housing stock, age diversity, a stable economic base, and a population safe from displacement.

Education, Community Organizing, and Advocacy Programs

Interfaith has a long history as a grassroots organization, consciously balancing service provision with community organizing. Unfortunately, as many grassroots groups develop specific programs they abandon social change work. Interfaith has not. Interfaith was initiated, according to Winnetka founder Rev. Paul Allen, “to provide an ongoing vehicle for the expression of the religious concern for more inclusive communities and the provision of housing for persons of moderate and low incomes.” ^[10]

Early History

No other group serving the northern Cook and southern Lake County suburbs is more dedicated to preserving and expanding diversity than Interfaith, an organization with a long history of grassroots organizing, advocacy, and service to promote inclusive communities. Indeed, Interfaith is the area’s premier voice for diverse suburbs and housing justice.

Founded in 1972, as a result of a conference convened by clergy with the help of the Community Renewal Society entitled “The Inclusive Community: Challenge to Church and Synagogue,” Interfaith was intended to be the coordinating entity for north suburban congregations’ initiatives promoting diversity and fairness.

Interfaith is rooted in the civil rights movement of the 1960s when a group of local women organized the North Shore Summer Project to protest housing discrimination. The group culminated its activities with a rally on the Winnetka Village Green in 1965, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a crowd of 10,000, his first civil rights rally in an all-white suburb. ^[11]

An important part of the solution to the divisiveness that exists in the Chicago metropolitan area lies in initiating constructive and positive actions leading to equal housing opportunities in the suburbs.

Former Names:

North Shore Interfaith Housing Council (1972-1986)

North Suburban Housing Center (a project of NSIHC, 1977-1986)

Current Projects

Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs is supporting the United We Learn grassroots organization. Interfaith helped organize this campaign when local residents approached Interfaith to coordinate their efforts to welcome Chicago school children as they prepared to boycott their first day of school and enroll at New Trier High School. While United We Learn was initially launched in support of the rally, and in solidarity with the Chicagoans protesting racial and economic disparities in public school education, the group is now looking at reforming public school education to benefit all.

United We Learn

United We Learnis the most recent of Interfaith's projects.

“United We Learn, a grassroots group of three dozen parents and community leaders, coalesced in August 2008 with the immediate aim of creating an atmosphere of welcome for the State Sen. Reverend Meeks-sponsored boycott and rally at New Trier High School last September 2nd. UWL supports the aims of Chicago Public School and Suburban Public School communities to secure a higher quality public school education - and brighter future - for all our children.” ^[12].

United We Learn has held several meetings to debate the group’s next steps. Individuals interested in joining or learning more about the cause, can refer to the United We Learn Official Website or the United We Learn Google Group.

Members

Today, with over 40 congregations and 15 civic organizations as members, Interfaith is the only civil rights agency focused on Chicago’s North Shore, a challenging region in which to operate because the housing is cost-prohibitive despite the abundance of jobs, and the region suffers from a reputation for being unwelcoming to people of color and low-income families.

References

External Links

• Fair Housing Act This contains the text of the Fair Housing Act
• North Shore Summer Project For more Information on the North Shore Summer Project