PlatFORM Group’s Inspired Affordable Housing Opportunity on Avon Street Bridges a Disturbing Experiential Gap

PlatFORM Group’s investment in its 15-acre mixed-use Avon Street development is an attempt to bridge the gap between the growth of downtown Rockford (an area that has benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars of both public and private investment) and the disconnection to downtown experienced by those living to the west and south gateways to downtown. The physical distance is small, but the experiential and emotional difference is alarming.

“It’s a chasm, really,” said Ron Clewer, Vice President of PlatFORM Group, “not just a gap. We define this disinvested area as starting just South of the Embassy Suites and just West of the Justice Center. Ironically, there are 11,000 jobs in downtown itself – physically nearby, but experientially distant from residents outside the downtown core.”

“We want to connect residents in the south and west neighborhoods to downtown in meaningful ways,” said Jerry Lumpkins, President of PlatFORM Group. “They deserve to be better connected to downtown’s jobs and to the rest of the community. That requires brick-and-mortar investment. That is exactly what our Avon Street project is: brick-and-mortar investment. It’s affordable housing – a bridge to a more equitable experience.”

PlatFORM Group has already invested in the Ellis Heights neighborhood in other meaningful ways. In 2022, PlatFORM and the City of Rockford each contributed $250,000 for critical home repairs managed and fulfilled by Habitat for Humanity. In 2022 alone, 39 homes received significant repairs to structural elements like roofing and exteriors and HVAC equipment. Such home repair investments are natural extensions of the Ellis Heights Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan (sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Rockford Housing Authority, circa 2013) that resulted in mixed-income replacement housing, the development of a grocery store, the promotion of a crafts-based entrepreneurship training program and a $2.5 million foreclosure mitigation grant by the Illinois General Assembly.

“The affordable housing crisis is deepening in our nation, our state, and our city,” said Martesha Brown, PlatFORM Group Board Member. “According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and Housing Action Illinois, only 34 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income Illinois households exist. This crisis hurts us all, not just low-income people.”

“Our board is purpose-built and duty-bound to do what we can to mitigate the problem locally,” said Lumpkins. “Avon Street represents our biggest investment to date.”

If you seek affordable housing options, please keep an eye on this website and other news channels for announcements regarding PlatFORM Group‘s Avon Street groundbreaking, which is expected to take place in the summer or fall of 2023.