Students Assist Limited Equity Co-ops at Cooperative Housing Summit

Housing Initiative Clinic students Clara Kim ’15 and Bill Panfel ’14 provided wise counsel to limited equity housing cooperative residents at the free legal clinic offered as part of the Second Annual HUD Region 5 Cooperative Housing Summit on October 24.  The Summit was organized by the Chicago Rehab Network and The Law Project, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Preservation Compact.  The Summit’s goals were to educate, inform, and inspire residents of HUD-financed cooperative housing throughout Chicago.  Residents attended sessions on conflict resolution, co-op governance, and equity growth and share pricing.  Residents were also able to interact with HUD officials and ask questions about regulatory issues and rehabilitation financing.

In the legal clinic portion of the Summit, Clara and Bill met with residents of several Chicago co-ops who had questions or concerns about their co-op’s governing documents, operating practices, and subsidy agreements with HUD.  Thanks to their prior work on behalf of Housing Initiative Clinic clients, Clara and Bill were well situated to explain the documents to the residents and offer counsel about next steps the residents could pursue to address their concerns.  The Housing Initiative Clinic’s work on behalf of co-op clients continues, and follow-up meetings to plan for post-Summit co-op initiatives are coming up in December.