Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi and team received the Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Community Investment Corporation (CIC) and the Preservation Compact during their annual Neighborhood Forum event hosted on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. This award is a special acknowledgment to honor the work done by the Cook County Assessor’s office and the partners that helped implement the Affordable Housing legislation (HB2621). Partners such as Stacie Young from the Community Investment Corporation, Allison Clements from the Illinois Housing Council, Dunni Cosey Gay from the Preservation Compact, and Bob Palmer from the Housing Action Illinois were pivotal in passing this legislation and taking step towards preserving and developing affordable housing in Cook County.  From this law, the Assessor’s Office created the Affordable Housing Special Assessment Program, a property tax relief incentive for housing providers who create and maintain this valuable housing category and expand the availability of rental units for low-income households. The program offers significant assessment relief to multi-family buildings that meet certain criteria with maximum rents at 60 percent of area medium income (AMI). After a little over one year, 562 applications have been accepted and are currently eligible to receive the special assessment. The true impact and savings will be reflected on the second installment property tax bills that are mailed out later this year. For more information about this program, visit www.cookcountyassessor.com/affordable-housing or email the Assessor’s Office at assessor.ahsap@cookcountyil.gov.