More than 15,000 Illinois homeowners stayed in their homes thanks to pandemic aid. That money has run out

Byron Brooks, 57, had been at his job in sales for 15 years, often working six to seven days a week clocking more than 100 hours per week before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flush with overtime pay, Brooks said he was able to purchase his first home in the West Pullman neighborhood in 2018.

But when the pandemic hit, his overtime work stopped, cutting his average yearly earnings down from around $60,000 to around $40,000. Then, he said, his basement flooded, costing him over $5,000 and wiping out a chunk of his savings.

Brooks said he fell behind on his roughly $1,200 monthly mortgage payments for at least two years, went into bankruptcy and worried he was going to lose his home.

“I struggled to keep everything paid on time,” said Brooks, who had started driving for Amazon to supplement his income and