Derenda Bradley just became the 1,000th person to successfully complete the Chicago Housing Authority's Choose to Own program, closing on a first home in Roseland where she now lives with her daughter and four grandchildren. Bradley was approved to purchase the home on the one-year anniversary of formally adopting her grandchildren, a coincidence she says makes the achievement feel even more significant.
Bradley described the moment as exciting, according to WLS-TV Chicago, and the Chicago Housing Authority marked the occasion by giving her a set of new kitchen appliances. Bradley had battled addiction and lost custody of her children before working her way back to stability, and she says the home now offers her family shelter, stability, and what she calls a springboard for success. Her granddaughter, Amira Taylor, said the new house gives the family a chance for new beginnings.
A Program Two Decades in the Making
Choose to Own launched in 2002, built on a federal framework the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development established in 2000 that let local housing authorities convert monthly Housing Choice Voucher subsidies into mortgage support instead of rent payments, according to The Chicago Community Trust. The framework allows voucher holders to apply the subsidy toward a mortgage, with assistance generally limited to 15 years; elderly or disabled households are exempt from those limits. To qualify, working families must earn at least half of the area median income and hold at least $3,000 in savings, while senior or disabled applicants need a minimum annual income of $11,929 and $2,000 in savings, per Bankrate. CHA also runs a separate HOME framework offering down payment assistance grants of up to $20,000 for CHA residents and $10,000 for other Chicago buyers, according to the Chicago Housing Authority.
Jimmy Stewart, CHA's manager of homeownership programs, grew up in CHA housing himself and said homeownership can change the trajectory of a family's life and help close the generational wealth gap in communities of color. Jawanza Malone, chairman of the CHA Board of Commissioners, said individual progress like Bradley's strengthens communities as a whole. CHA CEO Keith Pettigrew congratulated Bradley on the milestone.
New Leadership, Federal Scrutiny in the Background
Bradley's milestone lands at a turbulent moment for the agency. Pettigrew formally took over as CEO of the nation's third-largest housing authority in April 2026 after a 7-2 vote by the CHA Board of Commissioners, a hiring that drew public opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson, according to WTTW News. Pettigrew grew up in public housing and previously led the Washington D.C. Housing Authority. That leadership fight followed Hoodline's earlier reporting on a HUD Office of Inspector General audit, launched in September 2025, examining CHA's compliance with federal rules on tenant eligibility, immigration status, and criminal screening.
Why Roseland, and Why It Matters
Roseland's relative affordability makes it a natural landing spot for Choose to Own buyers. The neighborhood's median home price stood at $149,000 as of May 2026, a 1.6% year-over-year increase that keeps it among the city's most accessible single-family markets, per Prop Metrics.
That gap matters because Chicago's broader housing market has priced out many longtime renters. An August 2026 study by The Chicago Community Trust found that fewer than 1 in 7 credit-ready renters in the city can afford a home priced over $200,000, even as the citywide median home price climbed near $400,000 this year. A Chicago Urban League report drawing on research from The New School found the median net worth for Black households in the Chicago metropolitan area was $0 in 2024, compared to $210,000 for White households, according to the National Urban League.
Against that backdrop, programs like Choose to Own function as one of the few available bridges toward building equity in historically disinvested communities. Bradley said the Roseland home gives her family more than just a place to live, describing it as a community and a village of support as she and her daughter raise four grandchildren under one roof.
