About RHOPI
Regional HOPI is a network of organizations working collaboratively to address the foreclosure crisis in order to develop and implement more coordinated and robust regional responses. By engaging public, private and non-profit stakeholders, fostering collaboration across sectors and jurisdictional boundaries, and building capacity and galvanizing support across the region, Regional HOPI seeks to exert a collective, measurable impact on the foreclosure crisis in the Chicago metropolitan region.
Regional HOPI was formed in the fall of 2008 to address the spread of foreclosures across the Chicago region. The growing crisis reveals gaps in the region’s ability to respond to rising numbers of distressed homeowners, troubled renters and vacant properties. Housing counseling agencies often lack sufficient resources to help the growing number of struggling homeowners and to deal with unresponsive loan servicers. Federal foreclosure prevention programs have not been effective at addressing the current causes of default and keeping homeowners out of foreclosure. The rising number of vacant properties has put a growing strain on municipal resources and threatens the desirability and safety of neighborhoods. Meanwhile, municipal governments struggle to put these properties back to productive use. Tenants in buildings in foreclosure face uncertainty and deteriorating living conditions as properties change hands. Despite appealing conditions for buying a home, demand is still low and current loan products are insufficient to stimulate demand, especially in the hardest hit neighborhoods. A more coordinated regional response is needed to address these issues and help the region stabilize and recover from the foreclosure crisis.
Goals for Regional HOPI include:
∙ Leverage resources in ways that individual organizations generally cannot in order to make meaningful impact
∙ Engage multiple champions from the private, public, and non‐profit sectors, driving change and setting the tone to foster cooperation across the region.
∙ Monitor, develop and advocate for policy changes where appropriate to support Regional HOPI priorities and strategies.
Get Involved
Regional HOPI depends on the active participation of representatives from the public, private and non-profit sectors throughout Chicagoland. We need your help in order to bring full recovery to the Chicago area. Please consider donating resources, time or talent to Regional HOPI or one of the issue areas (financial products and loan modifications, housing counseling and legal aid, tenant issues, vacant properties, research). Contact Dory Rand at drand@woodstockinst.org to become more involved.
RHOPI Action Plan
This document summarizes the progress of Regional HOPI and presents a Regional Action Plan to address foreclosures. The following pages describe the parameters of Regional HOPI, the findings and objectives of each task force, and a cohesive, regional action plan to alleviate foreclosures and their impacts.
RHOPI Partners
Over 100 individuals at more than 70 organizations are involved in developing solutions to the foreclosure crisis for the Chicago metro area via on-the-ground solutions and cross-sector and inter-jurisdictional coordination.