Gloria Sanchez and her daughter Tia have recently moved into a new two-bedroom apartment at 1237 N. California Ave., Humboldt Park’s latest affordable housing project. The building, developed by the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, was completed late last year and began accepting tenants in January. It offers features such as wheelchair accessibility, proximity to public transportation, and community amenities.
“I am relieved and I can breathe now,” Sanchez said. “I still don’t believe I’m living here. It’s totally different where I lived — it’s bigger, my daughter can walk, it’s peaceful and quiet. I am grateful.”
Sanchez is among the first residents of the $32 million development that broke ground in summer 2024 with significant city and state funding support. The building contains 40 units: ten one-bedrooms, twenty-five two-bedrooms, and five three-bedrooms—all quickly leased according to developers. Residents have access to indoor and outdoor parking spaces as well as a bike storage room.
Apartments are intended for families earning between 30% to 70% of the area median income (approximately $36,000–$78,000). Rents range from $900 for one-bedroom units up to $1,800 for three-bedroom apartments.
Sanchez explained how the building’s elevator has made caring for her daughter easier compared to their previous Logan Square apartment. There she had struggled with stairs while managing groceries and her daughter’s wheelchair.
With help from her sister, Sanchez applied last October after noticing the building on a trip to one of her daughter’s appointments. She has since settled in and begun meeting neighbors.
Once weather improves, Sanchez looks forward to taking Tia outside more often and watching local events like the Puerto Rican parade from their window—something she has not done in five years.
“You are going to have to drag me out of here,” she said with a laugh.
Tony Hernandez, president and CEO of Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, stated that with seventeen units already leased out as of Wednesday—and five more families moving in this week—the building is expected to be fully occupied by month-end. According to Hernandez: “Affordable housing is a safe place for your children to do their homework, a place to relax after a long day of hard work, or even a place to do a day’s hard work in our business center… It can also be an uplifting space to dream big, for your kids to look out over the park or wonder at the Chicago skyline and know that everything this city offers is there for them, too.”
Lissette Castañeda, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Housing (DOH), attended an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the site along with other officials. Castañeda noted that ensuring units were available for those earning just 30 percent of median income was important progress: “No matter the outside forces, thanks to DOH support these units will provide stability to those who live here for decades to come,” she said. “Residents will have easy access to public transit along California and division connecting them to employment medical care entertainment options and more.”
Chicago faces an ongoing shortage of affordable homes; there are only thirty-two affordable rental homes available per hundred extremely low-income renter households according to a 2024 report by Housing Action Illinois and National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Alderman Jessie Fuentes (26th) highlighted that nearly two hundred affordable housing units have been added within Humboldt Park’s ward over two years during periods of steep property tax increases across Chicago: “When we think about projects like this we dream of a community where neighbors don’t have to say goodbye… but where historical memory can be passed from one generation another,” Fuentes said.
The development stands on land formerly occupied by Casa Puertorriqueña—a longstanding Puerto Rican community center closed due financial difficulties—which was demolished in 2019 before construction began on new apartments. Local leaders are working toward establishing Tu Casa Community Center at 2626 W Division St., aiming both preserve cultural ties within Puerto Rico Town district and fill gaps left by La Casa’s closure.
