Posted inInvestigating Responses

How Black Investors are Taking Back a Legal Tool to Restore Affordable Housing on South, West Sides

For decades, big investors profited off neglected buildings at the expense of predominantly Black neighborhoods. Now, the Community Receiver Program is working to ‘right historical wrongs’ by empowering residents to use receivership in a new way.

by Grey Lucas December 7, 2023August 29, 2025

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How Black Investors are Taking Back a Legal Tool to Restore Affordable Housing on South, West Sides

by Grey Lucas, Illinois Answers Project
December 7, 2023

<h1>How Black Investors are Taking Back a Legal Tool to Restore Affordable Housing on South, West Sides</h1>
<p class="byline">by Grey Lucas, Illinois Answers Project <br />December 7, 2023</p>
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A before-and-after image shows how community receiver Jay Davis renovated an Englewood house that he bought in 2021 from the Cook County Land Bank through a program called Chicago Neighborhood Rebuild. Previously, the home’s back porch was caved in, most of the windows were busted or boarded up, and the front had serious fire damage. He put it up for sale in September 2023. Credit: Photo on left provided by Jay Davis; photo on right by Marc Monaghan, for South Side Weekly and Illinois Answers Project

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Grey Lucas

Grey Lucas was an investigative reporting intern with the Illinois Answers Project in 2022 and 2023.

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