The co-op was born out of a conversation among residents and creatives one evening while they were sipping homemade apple cider wine at muralist Hector Duarte’s Pilsen studio nearly five years ago.
Enrique Leon puts on his work uniform at his home in Pilsen in preparation for a wedding performance on May 20, 2022. Leon, a musician by trade, and his wife, Karen, are part of the Pilsen Housing Cooperative, which has enabled the family to afford owing a home for the first time.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Leon, who became a shareholder. “Not only can we afford it, but we are saving this money instead of giving it away in rent. It has given us peace of mind and the opportunity to focus on our family and allow our children to grow.” For Linda Lutton, Duarte’s wife, and a resident in the area for nearly 30 years, helping to erect the project became something personal after seeing her neighbors forced out of their homes and unable to afford rent after their landlords sold their buildings to developers.“It was heartbreaking,” said Lutton, a Chicago journalist who is on sabbatical from her job as a reporter at WBEZ.
Jonah Bondurant and his wife, Raquel Garcia, with their 14-year-old daughter, Sofia, stand in their home's communal garden with their dog, Annie, at the Pilsen Housing Cooperative building on Wolcott Avenue. When the Leon family members applied, their savings were minimal, recalls Karen Leon. They had spent most of it looking for other apartments and paying application fees. A community fundraiser helped the cooperative make a larger down payment on the mortgage.
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