“Two affordable rental buildings in Woodlawn are being renamed in honor of the longtime neighborhood housing activist who rehabbed them in the 1990s.
“With a combined total of 102 apartments, the buildings at 6146 S. Kenwood Ave. and 6230 S. Dorchester Ave. will be rechristened the Mattie Butler Apartments at a May 26 event hosted by Preservation of Affordable Housing, their present owner.
“In the mid-1990s, the 64-unit Dorchester building was “burned out and ready for demolition,” according to archived Chicago Tribune articles, before Butler and a group she founded, Woodlawn East Community and Neighbors, or WeCan, bought it from the city for $1 and secured $2.1 million in grants and loans to rehab it into 29 studio and one-bedroom units for formerly homeless people.
“‘She made it possible for so many people to have housing,’ said Venus Scott, Butler’s daughter. Butler was not available for comment because of a health situation. ‘I’m so proud of what she did for people in Woodlawn,’ Scott said.
“Mattie Butler is the younger sister of Jerry Butler, a former Cook County commissioner. In 1995, he told the Tribune her success with community development came in part from having a personality that was ‘argumentative, determined, compassionate. I don’t recall ever having won an argument with her.’
“WeCan operated the buildings as affordable rentals for two decades before Butler approached Preservation of Affordable Housing, or Poah, a nonprofit developer that has been active in Woodlawn.
“Butler was in her 70s and ‘She said, ‘I think I’m ready to not do this anymore,’ ‘ said Bill Eager, vice president for real estate development in the Midwest for Boston-based Poah. His group bought the two buildings for about $1.5 million and in 2019 began a round of renovations that Eager said cost about $15 million.
Putting Butler’s name on the two buildings acknowledges that ‘she’s been a strong advocate for affordable housing and making sure that people in Woodlawn, particularly low-income people, have a place going forward.’
“‘She’s an icon of affordable housing,’ said Felicia Dawson, vice president of strategic partnerships at Poah.”