Chicago is facing an apartment supply crunch, with rents climbing as new construction slows to a trickle. Community Investment Corp., a Chicago-based lender for affordable rental housing, aims to fill the financing gap for smaller borrowers looking to acquire and rehabilitate older housing stock. Preservation is significantly more cost-effective than new affordable construction. Deferred maintenance is common on many of the properties CIC lends on, and common replacements are boiler systems, roof overhauls, tuck-pointing and electrical upgrades, Moore said. “A lot of properties on the South and West sides of the city would not have financing available to them if it wasn't for a CIC,” Moore said.