Cook County Land Bank Authority Announces Winners Of Drawing For Rent And Mortgage Relief

CHICAGO, Dec. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA) today announced 25 winners of the Land Bank's 2020 "Home for the Holidays" drawing. The Land Bank will provide each winner with $1,000 for rent and mortgage relief. Winners are named at cookcountylandbank.org.

Each year, the Land Bank gives away a free home to a Cook County family. In 2019, the Land Bank gave the lucky winner the keys and deed to a free, beautifully rehabbed single-family home in the Washington Heights neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. This year, instead of providing a home to one winner, the Land Bank awarded 25 families rent and mortgage relief during the holiday season. The CCLBA "Home for the Holidays" drawing is free assistance, not a loan, and will be paid directly to winners' banks and property managers.

There were about 12,000 entrants in the drawing, which ran from Nov. 24 to Dec. 17. About 70 percent are renters in the city and suburban Cook County, and the rest are current homeowners. The 25 winners include 18 people who rent and seven homeowners.

"The Land Bank congratulates all of the winners of the 2020 'Home for the Holidays' drawing," said Rob Rose, Executive Director of the Cook County Land Bank Authority. "As an agency dedicated to helping stabilize neighborhoods and empowering local businesses and residents, we know many people in Cook County are struggling to pay rent and mortgage, so we're happy to help out during this tough year."

Established in 2013, The Land Bank has already returned nearly 900 tax-delinquent properties to tax-paying use and empowered more than 525 residents and community developers?80% of whom are people of color and women?who have rehabbed more than 600 single family homes, many of which would have been slated for demolition or left abandoned. This work has generated more than $89 million in community wealth and enabled hundreds of community developers to create jobs and increase economic stability in their neighborhoods.

About the Cook County Land Bank Authority

The Cook County Land Bank Authority, an independent agency of Cook County, was founded by the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2013 to address residents and communities hit hard by the mortgage crisis. CCLBA gives local developers, community groups and potential homeowners the tools to transform their own communities from within.

The Land Bank acquires properties that have sat tax?delinquent, abandoned and vacant for years and sells them at below?market rates to qualified community?based developers, who then rehab the properties. This approach not only keeps revenue and jobs in the community, but it also helps local developers grow their businesses. Learn more about the Cook County Land Bank Authority at http://www.cookcountylandbank.org or email [email protected].

SOURCE Cook County Land Bank Authority