NHS Programs are Organized Around Five Major Areas of Activity:

Neighborhood Strategy/Community Building

NHS promotes community development through nine neighborhood-based offices in the City of Chicago: Auburn Gresham/Englewood, Back of the Yards/Garfield Boulevard, North Lawndale, Roseland, South Chicago, West Englewood, and West Humboldt Park; and in the City of Elgin - NHS of the Fox Valley. NHS also offers its full range of home ownership, lending and rehab services to the entire City of Chicago through its citywide office on Milwaukee Ave. NHS has completed its work in eight other Chicago neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Lending Services, Inc.

Neighborhood Lending Services Inc. (NLS), a nonprofit, NHS-affiliated corporation, is an Illinois Residential Mortgage licensee (#M00661) and Equal Housing Opportunity Lender. NLS offers loan programs that finance home purchase, purchase with rehabilitation, home improvement, home safety repairs, and refinancing for low- and moderate-income borrowers and homebuyers throughout Chicago and Elgin.

Home Ownership Education 
NHS has four NeighborWorks Home Ownership Centers that provide all the services and training customers need to purchase, rehabilitate, insure and maintain a home. Home Buyer Education Classes are offered in several NHS neighborhoods in English and Spanish.

The goal of the Home Ownership Department is to make home ownership opportunities available to low- and moderate-income individuals and families. NHS does this by providing quality homebuyer training and education, by assisting home buyers to obtain affordable financing to purchase their home, and by providing services after the purchase to help families fix and keep their homes.

Real Estate Development
NHS Redevelopment Corporation (NHSRC), an NHS-affiliated nonprofit corporation, strengthens neighborhoods and provides high-quality, affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families by developing properties throughout the City of Chicago. NHSRC buys, rehabilitates and sells homes, builds new homes, works with the Housing Court to stabilize vacant properties, and develops multi-family housing and senior citizen housing to support NHS’ neighborhood revitalization efforts, .

NHSRC’s Real Estate Services include development of new and rehabbed single-family homes, property management of over 300 units of rental housing, brokerage services, and receivership.

Innovation 
NHS’ Innovation Division is responsible for crafting new solutions to the ever-changing issues facing Chicago & Elgin neighborhoods. NHS partners and staff are pioneering efforts to respond to neighborhood and regional issues issues and to anticipate future needs for NHS’ target neighborhoods and customers. The Division converts the knowledge and experience NHS gains through its daily work in the neighborhoods to new programs and policy initiatives that can directly benefit those communities and the Chicago region..

Over the past several years, the Innovation Division has spearheaded research on the foreclosure crisis, developed a statewide partnership for foreclosure counseling agencies, managed the creation and affiliation of the NHS of the Fox Valley in Elgin, and led NHS’ push for changes to the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).