Congratulations to Jeff Weinberg, President of Drexel Properties, who has been named 2025 Property Manager of the Year by the Illinois Real Estate Journal, or IREJ.

Jeff has been a superstar leader for the NBOA. He is on the Executive Committee, he is a leader in the Northwest Side Building Coalition, and he is a frequent voice for the industry in the media. He shows what it means to be a neighborhood housing provider: responsive service, thoughtful leadership, and a commitment to quality, affordable neighborhood housing.

The NBOA is the Voice of Neighborhood Housing. Yes, that’s our slogan but during the week of May 12–16, 2025, our voice was heard.

We were in a major Chicago Tribune story about the Mayor’s first two years; in a WBEZ story about vouchers and landlords; at the center of a Crain’s Chicago Business story about recent legislation; in a major New York Times story three months in the making (this story was also picked up by Crain’s and Block Club Chicago); and we had a letter to the editor in the Tribune about HB3564. That was all in the span of seven days.

We roared in the General Assembly: we sent over 1700 witness slips opposing HB3564, and 350 of us used our outreach tool to send 11,256 emails to members of the Illinois Senate.

As a result, the sponsors of HB3564 pulled the language of the bill and totally amended it. While not great, it shows that we forced a major pivot, putting us in a much stronger position. The media coverage shows our expanding impact and presence: reporters are learning that our voice is central to coverage of neighborhood housing, and it brings important balance to the coverage. Finally, our work with the New York Times story about evictions due to crime-free ordinances took several months, and resulted in a sympathetic portrayal of housing providers, rather than a negative stereotype that might have spurred legislation targeting our industry.