By Sharon Stangenes
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 3, 2006

Chicago is sponsoring a one-day Cavalcade of Homes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 7. It will showcase developments that mix affordable and market-rate homes.

The tour of for-sale homes and sales centers involves more than 35 developments in 24 neighborhoods ranging from Rogers Park on the North to South Chicago on the East and West Pullman on the South Side.

Visitors will be able to take a bus or get maps for a self-guided tour of new construction and renovated housing, including condominiums, townhouses, single-family homes and some two-flats.

The cavalcade will have models or information about homes, ranging from $139,000 for a single-family home in Roseland to an $800,000 house in Kenwood. All the developments have received some city investment that requires units to be more affordable. The designated affordable units--sometimes called workforce housing--look the same as market-rate homes but cost less for buyers who qualify under city guidelines.

Chicago has poured more than $3 billion in local, state and federal fund into building, improving and maintaining more than 125,000 units of affordable housing since 1989, according to city officials. Another 48,000 units are expected to be added by the end of 2008.

"We want to make more people aware of the many affordable housing opportunities," Mayor Richard M. Daley said in a statement.

The redevelopment of several former Chicago Housing Authority sites, such as the former Cabrini-Green, includes providing homes for people in a mix of income ranges.

Other new urban developments have units for modest-income buyers if the developer or area has received city aid such as a Tax Increment Financing.

The headquarters for the show will be 750 S. Halsted at the University of Illinois at Chicago, from where the free three-hour tours of five portions of the city--the North, Mid-South, Near West, Southeast and Far South Side--will depart. City officials and a variety of lenders will be at the university and other sites to answer questions about mortgage programs, such as Chicago's TaxSmart and City Mortgage, and incentives for teachers, firefighters and police personnel.

Marilyn Katz, a spokeswoman for the event, said the goal is to encourage prospective buyers to venture into unfamiliar neighborhoods.

The home show is sponsored by the Chicago Department of Housing and the Chicago Department of Planning and Development in conjunction with for-profit and not-for-profit builders.

The sites for participating Cavalcade developments are listed at www.cavalcadeofhomeschicago.org. Reservations are required to take the tour bus and can be made online or by calling 312-377-3409.