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CHICAGO — The City of Chicago is looking to cut crime by increasing home ownership, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a new program Monday aimed at doing just that.

The goal is to build affordable housing on thousands of vacant lots on the south and west sides, starting in North Lawndale. 

Two model homes are already under construction. Eighteen-percent of the land in the neighborhood is vacant, and the group United Power For Action and Justice is trying to change that. 

It’s secured more than $25 million in loans for construction, $10 million from the state to help with subsidies for homebuyers — which will amount to about $30,000 per homeowner. 

The city will sell 250 city-owned lots to the Reclaiming Communities Joint Venture for $1 each. This is about allowing people to begin to build generational wealth and invest in their communities, making them safer. 

The mayor says vacancy leads to violence. 

The goal is to build about 250 homes every year-and-a-half to two years.