Community Partners for Affordable Housing

Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH) began as three separate nonprofit housing organizations: the Affordable Housing Corporation was created by the Lake County Board in 1992, Lake County Residential Development Corporation was created by the Lake County Housing Authority in 1978, and CPAH was created by the City of Highland Park in 2003. Each organization was highly regarded in the community and our long history of working together created a deep well of respect and admiration for each other’s work. Eventually, we came to understand that combining efforts would increase the efficiency and sustainability of all three nonprofits. More importantly, we realized that a merger would allow us to develop more affordable housing units and provide more and better services to our clients. The three entities merged on January 1, 2019 keeping the name Community Partners for Affordable Housing because we believed it best represented our mission and strategy. CPAH now offers a continuum of housing services that clients throughout the northern suburbs can access under one roof including HUD-certified housing counseling, down payment assistance, affordable homeownership programs, rental assistance, affordable rental housing, home repair programs, foreclosure prevention, financial counseling, community land trust programming, inclusionary housing administration, and more. Our core values are integrity, diversity, service-oriented, stewardship, and strategic.

CPAH's mission is to develop affordable housing and provide services that empower individuals and families to secure and retain quality housing. CPAH serves over 1,000 new households annually. Below are a few annual outcome metrics: - 250 low-income households prepare for successful, responsible homeownership through our downpayment assistance programs, pre-purchase education classes and individual counseling - 100 households are empowered to prevent foreclosure through our foreclosure counseling, mediation, and financial assistance programs - 100 low-income households increase their knowledge, skills, and access to financial products and services through our financial capability program - 40 low-income households have their homes made safe, accessible, and brought up to code through our home repair and accessibility programs - 1,200 low-income households are in affordable, stable rental housing through our inventory of affordable rental units - 8 homes (and new homeowners) are added annually to CPAH's inventory of 100+ Community Land Trust homes, providing equity and wealth-building opportunities for low-income homebuyers In addition to the above outcomes, next year CPAH will (i) complete a new 34-unit affordable senior housing development in Libertyville, (ii) start construction on 40 new affordable senior cottages in Beach Park, (iii) complete 8 new permanently affordable townhomes in Highland Park, and (iv) conduct pre-development work on a 24-unit permanent supportive housing development in Mundelein.