Could I get a grant in Illinois to rebuild houses in a rundown part of town?

Question

I live in Illinois, a west/nw suburbs of Chicago of about 150,000. Half of my city is pretty nice, the other half is gangs, drugs, prostitution.

I think a big part of the problem is a lot of the downtown is these beautiful old victorian houses, however people have turned them into apartments and you have like 7 apartments in what used to be a single family home. I think the congestion in the neighborhoods because of this and also the fact that people aren't home owners contributes to this.

I was hoping to get a grant. Then my plan is to fix up these homes and sell them or rent them as single family homes. I think having people own the property makes them take more pride in their home, block, and community. I think this would fix a lot of the crime problems. I've checked the state of Illinois website and the only community development grants are for city governments. Could I get a similar grant myself?

Answer 1

This is exactly what is happening in Phoenix today.  The city wants the blighted areas fixed up.  My worry is that you don't have enuf money to do this project without a "grant".   That is not a good sign.  You need to go to the city with more than "adequate" money in place.  I mean money; not a financing letter.  Our biggest commercial lender ,  Mortgages LTD,  just went bankrupt and the owner committed suicide.

Get money and you can do this.

Answer 2

not as an individual

why should taxpayer dollars finance you?

a community foundation, a 501c3, might be eligible

sometimes communities have programs, BUT they are for homeowners, not flippers