In Chicago Heights, vets’ housing plan in the works
Military veterans may soon benefit from the addition of new affordable housing units in the south suburbs.
Federal, state, county and local officials are pursuing plans to build 82 units of subsidized housing for veterans on part of the former St. James Hospital property near Chicago Road and Dixie Highway in downtown Chicago Heights.
“Our goal is to create affordable housing for veterans in the south suburbs,” said Rich Monocchio, executive director of the Housing Authority of Cook County.
He said a study showed there are 2,000 veterans in the area who could benefit from additional housing units.
The Chicago Heights City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to accept a donation of 13 parcels of vacant land northwest of Otto Boulevard and 15th Street that formerly was part of the St. James Hospital campus.
The land was donated by Franciscan Alliance, which is affiliated with Franciscan Health, a health care system that operates hospitals in Olympia Fields and 13 other communities.
Franciscan Health plans to build an urgent care facility on another portion of land that formerly housed the hospital, which closed in late 2018, Franciscan Health CEO Allan M. Spooner said. Crews demolished most of the buildings last year, though part of a seven-story building remains standing.
The hospital occupied an 11acre site. A public plaza and open space are planned to complement the veterans housing complex and urgent-care facility, Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez told council members.
“What we’re trying to do is develop that whole site,” Gonzalez said. “(Franciscan) said they would give us these parcels because we think veterans housing would work there.”
Franciscan initially planned to build a new urgent care facility elsewhere in Chicago Heights, he
said.
“I think what they’re seeing now is demand for urgent care in the downtown area,” he said. “They have now decided they want to build the urgent care on that site as well.”
St. James Hospital began serving Chicago Heights in 1911.
“Franciscan Health has invested in Chicago Heights for well over 100 years,” Spooner said. “It’s in our blood. Donating this piece of property for veterans housing in this community is part of our continued commitment.”
State regulators in 2016 approved Franciscan Health’s request to close
St. James in Chicago Heights. Franciscan at the time said it would invest $137 million to modernize and expand its hospital in Olympia Fields.
In its resolution, Chicago Heights accepted the donation of 13 parcels from Franciscan Alliance and also transferred ownership of the land to the Housing Authority of Cook County, city attorney T.J. Somer said. Last month, the Illinois Housing Development Authority announced the veterans housing project in Chicago Heights was among 21 developments throughout the state awarded financing through a federal program that uses tax credits to fund housing for lowincome residents.
“With more and more families and seniors increasingly rent burdened and reeling from the impact of the pandemic, it is crucial that we continue to build and preserve affordable housing throughout Illinois to address this urgent need,” executive director Kristin Faust said in a statement.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 created the program, the authority said. Each year, tax credits are allocated to states based on population. The housing authority uses a competitive application process to determine recipients.
“Once developers receive the credits, they sell them to investors and use the equity generated to reduce construction and operating costs,” the authority said.
The 21 projects funded this year will leverage $26 million in federal tax credits to generate an estimated $238.4 million in private capital to fund construction of 1,188 units of affordable housing, the authority said.
The Housing Authority of Cook County’s 82-unit project in Chicago Heights would be four stories, the state authority said.
“The development will sit adjacent to a proposed new town square that will include a plaza space for public events and gatherings including a farmer’s market, public ceremonies and cultural events,” the state said in its release.
The Cook County authority subsidizes about 600 housing units for veterans, Monocchio said. Most are located near the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital adjacent to the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, he said.
The veterans housing project is the latest instance of state and federal dollars being used to improve public housing in Chicago Heights, Monocchio said Thursday.
“It’s part of a larger community development effort,” he said.
Since 2018, the Cook County Housing Authority has worked with community groups, local residents and others to implement a $350,000 Choice Neighborhoods Grant awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Monocchio said. Chicago Heights was among six communities nationwide awarded funding by HUD that year through the program.
The Choice Neighborhoods Grant was awarded to plan improvements to the city’s downtown/east side neighborhood and 172-unit Sunrise Manor development, HUD said in a 2018 newsletter about the grant program.
“While neighborhood vacancy and crime rates are high, recent efforts have begun to increase safety and stabilize home values,” HUD said in 2018.
The housing for veterans will help Chicago Heights achieve its goals “to promote economic stability and growth within the community and to eliminate blight and vacant buildings, to eliminate tax delinquent and unused properties, and to restore properties to a marketable state thus creating tax and utility revenue for the city and creating temporary and permanent jobs,” according to the resolution approved by the City Council.