State and village officials, the developer, architect, and builder at the groundbreaking for Spruce Village in Palatine, Illinois. Pictured from left are: Carl Hauert, Project Manager, Henry Bros. Co.; Rachel Rhodes, Vice President Regional Manager, Central, National Equity Fund; Scott Britton, Cook County Board Commissioner (14th District); Richard Koenig, Executive Director, Housing Opportunity Development Corporation; Tom O’Brien, Vice President of Project Development, Henry Bros. Co., Laura Novick, Associate Architect, Cordogan Clark & Associates; John Clark, Principal, Cordogan Clark & Associates; Ann Gillespie, State Senator (27th District); Hugh Brady, Co-President of The North/Northwest Suburban Task Force On Supportive Housing for Individuals With Mental Illness; and Palatine Mayor Jim Schwantz.
HODC broke ground on December 5, 2019, in Palatine on a new development. Spruce Village will provide 44 supportive affordable housing units to adults living with disabilities. Spruce Village residents will be linked with supportive services designed to encourage independent living. The building will fill a need in the suburbs for local housing opportunities for persons with disabilities who need to be near their families and support networks to remain independent. Completion is expected in December of 2020.
“The struggle for people living with a disability to find stable housing is complicated by lack of affordability,” says HODC’s Executive Director Richard Koenig on the occasion of the Spruce Village groundbreaking. Koenig adds: “Permanent supportive housing is a cost-effective solution to help lower income households with disabilities improve their quality of life and have money to spend on other important things like health care and other services to stabilize chronic conditions.”
Spruce Village is being developed by Housing Opportunity Development Corporation who will own and manage the project. The building was designed by Cordogan Clark & Associates and is under construction by Henry Bros Construction. HODC’s funding partners for Spruce Village are the Illinois Housing Development Authority, National Equity Fund, Federal Home Loan Bank, Village Bank & Trust, N.A., Housing Authority of Cook County and ComEd.