TRAEN, Inc. is advocating for additional community housing groups to join several others in support of fairer assessment legislation that would provide a stronger equity impact for minority homeowners   Many countywide groups are on board in support of SB 3788 foreclosure legislation that requires assessors to use high foreclosure rates in their market value formulas for minority and distressed neighborhoods. 

All 101 Illinois counties passed legislation allowing their assessors to consider using foreclosure data in distressed neighborhoods to formulate better assessments and fair market values for minority neighborhoods often adversely impacted by short sales and foreclosures. TRAEN's efforts to pass the same legislation in Cook County will allow for fairer initial assessments and tax appeals on foreclosed homes. 

 

SB 3788 is affordable housing legislation that is more crucial than ever because the COVID pandemic has affected disproportionately more minority neighborhoods with higher unemployment, infection rates and mortality, all of which will lead to higher tax delinquencies and foreclosures in 2022.
 
TRAEN Inc.'s study of Foreclosure Clusters led to news coverage of the plight of a black homeowner, in Riverdale, Illinois in Thornton Township, who is representative of a majority of south suburban homeowners struggling with disproportionately higher property tax bills than those in white neighborhoods.   

 

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