$26M loan pool to rehab vacant rentals in Chicago

Around a dozen private lenders have contributed to a $26 million loan pool that will finance the rehabilitation of vacant rental properties in Chicago.

The program is meant to help neighborhoods recover from the recession and housing crisis, which hit parts of the city particularly hard.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced the program Tuesday.

The financing will be available for the redevelopment of buildings with between one and four units.

Madigan called it "a down payment on the future for communities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis."

Madigan's office allotted $2 million toward the loan pool from relief secured in the national foreclosure settlement.

Officials expect the program will help fix up 400 units at 200 properties, primarily in low- and moderate-income areas.