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Examples of how the Website might be used
(1) Family seeks housing
A couple with three children is considering relocating to a new neighborhood. The Housing Website leads them to a housing counseling agency nearby. Their counselor uses the website to discover:

  Community profiles and relevant data on neighborhoods throughout Northeastern Illinois

  Financial assistance programs that they might be eligible for

  General information on purchasing and selling homes

  Detailed information on organizations that may help them apply for incentive programs.

With this information, the family finds a new home in a new neighborhood, and identifies housing services available to them.


(2) Community development group is out to improve the neighborhood
A local community development corporation (CDC) seeks to develop affordable single-family homes in their neighborhood. On the website they are able to:

  Find and create maps on housing prices and other data specific to the neighborhood for market studies and grant applications.

  Locate income statistics within their service territory to accurately calculate affordability.

  Identify financial assistance programs available to developers.

  Research general information on housing development



(3) Policy maker wants the facts
An elected official would like to know how her district compares with others. Her staff logs in to the Housing Website to find:

  Municipalities in the surrounding area that have higher levels of persons living below the poverty level

  Published documents and information on affordable housing issues in the immediate area

  Organizations within the district that provide housing services to low and moderate income families

The staff also prints a GIS map of the district, showing a visual representation of the median value of single family homes which clearly indicates where the concentration of low, moderate, and higher income residents reside.
Intrigued, the elected official requests the same information for neighboring districts for the sake of comparison.


(4) Developer seeks building site --
A developer is seeking a location for a new 18-unit mixed income housing project. The developer logs on to the Housing Website to find:

  Data to conduct a market study on various neighborhoods that might be suitable for the project

  Financial assistance programs or tax credits available for this type of development

  Square footage of each parcel

  Local community-based organizations that might be interested in being involved with the planning process