Preserving affordable housing that already exists in our neighborhoods is as important as creating new housing, and the foundation of a solid preservation strategy is sound property management.

In gentrified neighborhoods of our service area, units developed and managed by Bickerdike are some of the only remaining affordable housing. We maintain affordable rents in neighborhoods where other landlords charge as much as the local market will bear, which can be 3 to 4 times the rents at Bickerdike properties. In order to guarantee long term sustainability of our housing, we carry out preventative maintenance and planned capital improvements rather than merely cosmetic improvements. The long term success of our property and asset management work is demonstrated by the excellent condition and the continuing viability of the affordable housing that we developed and have managed for more than twenty years.

Property Management Portfolio. Bickerdike Apartments, the property management arm of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, oversees a portfolio that includes:

• 918 units of quality, affordable housing.
• Properties range from single room occupancy studios (SROs) to co-op units, to townhouse apartments.
• We manage and maintain new construction, gut-rehab, subsidized and affordable market rate apartments.
• The majority of our units contain three or more bedrooms to accommodate the community's need for large family units.

Bickerdike manages all of its own rental housing and the Woolman Washington Cooperative.

Preservation. Bickerdike is working to ensure that we maintain expiring project based Section 8 and Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects as affordable housing. Bickerdike currently has 4 properties with 454 apartments and the Woolman Washington Cooperative with 51 units, whose Section 8 contracts will expire in the next 6 years. We were the first nonprofit owner in Chicago to secure the renewal of a Section 8 contract with HUD, and we will continue to renew each of the Section 8 contracts as they expire.

Bickerdike's property management approach is a recognized model for properties managed by community development corporations.