Chicago City Wire

Mayor Brandon Johnson took advantage of a special mortgage deal for employees of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in 2009 that granted first-time home buyers a $3,000 no-interest loan, records with the Cook County Clerk’s office show.

With the loan executed on Dec. 23, 2009, Johnson purchased his home at 5715 Superior St. in the Austin neighborhood.

The sweetheart mortgage deal for CPS employees, established in 2008 with the non-profit Rogers Park Community Development Corp., came with a few stipulations - one being that if the home owner leaves CPS employment within five years from the date of the purchase, he has to pay back any amount remaining on the loan.

In 2011, just two years after taking out the loan, Johnson left CPS and “began organizing with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU),” his LinkedIn account states.

“Our historic 2012 teacher's strike set a national precedent for bargaining for the common good, in which our contract negotiations included demands to uplift the communities within and around our schools," his account says.

Nowhere in the public records does it show that the $3,000 loan was paid off in full. A call to the Rogers Park Community Development Corp., now Northside Community Development, was not returned. The mayor’s press office did not respond to an email request for comments.

The 2008 mortgage arrangement for CPS employees who are first-time home buyers in the city was established through an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Chicago, Department of Housing (DOH)

One of the conditions of the loan, and it’s clearly stated in Johnson’s deal with the Rogers Park Community Development, is that “the employee agrees to repay the employer the remaining portion of the loan…during the [five-year] recapture period  for the loan if the employee’s relationship; with the participating employer is terminated by either party.”

Back in March 2023, when Johnson was a candidate for mayor, Capitol Fax reported that he owed the city thousands in back utility bills, and traffic tickets, including fines and penalties.

Johnson told Fox 32 that as of March 31 of that year he paid his debts to the city.

In a statement, Ald. Anthony Beale responded to the Capitol Fax report, saying, “not paying your water bill and owing the city over $3,000 when you make over $175,000 per year as a paid lobbyist like Brandon Johnson is ridiculous and irresponsible. Johnson is earning a six-figure salary as a union lobbyist and another taxpayer funded salary as a County Commissioner, he wants to raise taxes by $800 million but won’t even pay his own bills. Chicago needs a mayor who can manage our city, not someone who can’t even manage his own money."

In October, National Review reported that with an approval rating of 14 percent that Brandon Johnson was the “most unpopular mayor in the history of the city."