As the affordable housing crisis deepened, four emerging reporters led by City Bureau’s engagement reporter Jerrel Floyd looked into housing cooperatives as one potential solution. The reporters explained what housing co-ops are, their financial structures, their history in Chicago and city’s efforts to support them.
How are housing cooperatives different from communes and who are they for? These and more common questions about co-ops answered.
Co-op members, city officials and organizers weigh in on whether limited-equity housing co-ops can provide affordable and sustainably priced housing.
ChiFresh Kitchen and others speak on the journey to start a housing cooperative, from incorporating a business to saving for expensive repairs.
Who are we?
To report these stories on housing cooperatives, City Bureau fall fellows and engagement reporter Jerrel Floyd spent 11 weeks learning the intricacies of collective housing, including the various financial mechanisms, city zoning and building requirements, the co-ops’ legal structure, and understanding how the model fit in the city’s affordable housing tapestry. They interviewed nearly 40 sources, referenced more than 40 news articles and reports, reviewed court documents and public records, and attended a housing-market fair in South Shore. (Photos by Davon Clark/City Bureau)
Jhaylin Benson
By Maia McDonald
A native of Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood, Jhaylin Benson has found his footing in journalism after considering a variety of possible career avenues including public relations, communications and history education.
Ultimately, getting paid to learn is what drew Benson to journalism.
Benson graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in news and features in May. He had signed up for the sports journalism program, but the college axed it before he completed the coursework. But Benson isn’t giving up on a career in sports journalism. He ultimately wants to write about basketball as a sports columnist covering the Phoenix Mercury, which is part of the Women’s National Basketball Association.
He believes many teams in the WNBA don't receive quality coverage and he would like to lead that change.
“There’s a lot of negativity in the world,” he said. “I would rather focus on the positive.”
Benson’s first foray into journalism was the result of a tip from a college counselor who’d suggested he try City Bureau’s Documenters program, which trains and pays people to document public meetings. Benson joined the program and has documented several of City Council’s and Chicago Park District’s public meetings. Enjoying this work, he decided to apply for a spot in City Bureau’s 2022 fall fellowship.
In his spare time, Benson also enjoys attending concerts and playing video games.
Grace Del Vecchio
By Daniela Tovar-Miranda
Since high school, Philly-native Grace Del Vecchio found a passion for community organizing, an interest that was furthered when she briefly handled requests from reporters to speak with student organizers planning walk-outs. The experience showed her how the voices of students could be recognized and uplifted by journalists, which contributes to movements in powerful ways.
After high school, Del Vecchio moved to Chicago to pursue a double major in journalism and geography at DePaul University. Her school work included a concentration in urban planning and development, a topic she has explored as a reporter and as the editor-in-chief at 14 East Magazine, DePaul's student-led online magazine.
Earlier in her student career, she also served as the engagement editor, where she developed “public newsrooms,” live events that brought together journalists and community members. If given more time, she would have wanted to do more community engagement projects, which is what attracted her to City Bureau back in 2020 and again this fall.
Del Vecchio graduated in June and is now a freelance journalist. She quickly realized she missed being part of a team, which is another reason she applied for the fall fellowship.
“I learn and grow so much when I am part of a team,” Del Vecchio said, adding that she also “wanted to be in a newsroom where I felt aligned with the ethics.”
Annabel Rocha
By Cristal Ramirez
Annabel Rocha is from the Southwest Side of Chicago. She grew up in Pilsen and now lives in the Gage Park and West Elsdon area. Her motivation to become a part of City Bureau’s fall fellowship cohort comes from her deep desire to empower people through the stories they share.
Rocha has a holistic view on what it means to be a part of a journalism team that involves not only working with others who share her values but who also have a strong desire to grow along the way. She sees value in focusing on local news, as opposed to national news, because the actions or inactions of local government officials directly affect communities and people’s daily life.
“Many people don't realize how influential our local elected officials are,” Rocha said. “We don't realize — or we're not taught to understand — the importance of being engaged at the local level.”
Rocha sees an abundance of information, stories and voices that are not being heard in mainstream news. Her goal is to “bridge the gap,” which she is able to do through her work at City Bureau, Illinois Latino News, and as a fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Health Journalism. If she was not a journalist, Rocha would work on documentaries and write creatively because she has always been a writer. Everyones’ path is different and Rocha said she has learned to embrace hers.
Sonal Soni
By Siri Chilukuri
Sonal Soni is a queer, non-binary Indian-American radio journalist from Chicago. They were born in Chicago and grew up all over the midwest, including in Missouri and Kansas, before finding their way back to the city. For Soni, coming back to Chicago is coming back home and they have been honored to cover the city and its different neighborhoods.
They report on race, class, climate change, and issues impacting Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community. Soni is a student at DePaul University, where they have found unique ways to cover the news in Chicago. They’ve written about trans-inclusive housing policies on college campuses for 14 East Magazine, the school’s student-led online magazine, and covered protests on social media against police brutality after a Chicago police officer shot and killed Adam Toledo, who was 13. That coverage won honorable mention for an Associated Collegiate Press award.
Last summer, Soni landed an internship with WBEZ where they covered daily news and topics relevant to LGBTQ+ Chicagoans. Their work included stories about monkeypox cases in Chicago and a feature on what a potential repeal of Evanston’s public nudity clause would mean for queer Chicagoans.
In their free time, they make jewelry, carrying on a family tradition that is generations strong, and tend lovingly to their pet tortoise Rodrigo.
Jerrel Floyd
By Sarah Conway
Jerrel Floyd feels his roots in small-town Alabama in Black Chicago from the way that people walk down the street to catching a family relaxing on the stoop. Sharing Black stories is exactly what brought him here – documenting living history through communities telling their own stories.
“People want to be storytellers about where they come from, how they feel about their lives. They want to tell their individual stories,” he said. Inquisitive, thoughtful and perceptive, Floyd creates space in his reporting for communities of color to explore memory and process how systems impact their daily lives.
Floyd found his footing in journalism as a reporter and editor as an undergraduate at Morehouse College’s student newspaper, The Maroon Tiger. He began his career at ProPublica Illinois as a reporting fellow where he explored the powerful histories of abandoned black cemeteries, an interest sparked during his graduate studies in investigative journalism at American University where he collaborated on projects with PBS Frontline and the Washington Post.
Before City Bureau, he was as a local government reporter with the Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, covering a broad range of topics from growth and development to education and health. He brings eight years of reporting experience to his work as an engagement reporter covering affordable housing, development and food access, a beat he anchors in connecting communities with resources and ultimately building their own narratives.
Have Your Say
Do you have questions about housing co-ops in Chicago? Or want to share a tip? Reach out via email at tips@citybureau.org. You can also leave a voicemail or text message for us at 312-361-0881.