Nearly a year after securing a $7.8 million housing award, Community Home Partners (CHP) is readying to turn the dirt on a new permanent housing development in Rock Island specifically for military veterans. CHP, the managing entity for the Rock Island Housing Authority (RIHA), plans to build 25 modern homes for veterans seeking a permanent […]
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Nearly a year after securing a $7.8 million housing award, Community Home Partners (CHP) is readying to turn the dirt on a new permanent housing development in Rock Island specifically for military veterans.
CHP, the managing entity for the Rock Island Housing Authority (RIHA), plans to build 25 modern homes for veterans seeking a permanent housing situation. The still unnamed project will occupy a vacant, 4.5-acre parcel at 950 31st Ave. The site – formerly home to Dingeldein Gardens – will host a ceremonial groundbreaking at 2 p.m. Friday, April 25. The public is welcome to attend.
The agency’s CEO John Chow said through the building plans and the delivery of on-site resources “we will see adequate support and new housing development for our veterans.”
He said decisions have not yet been finalized as to the eligibility requirements for the veterans, who will rent the new homes.
Actual construction is not likely to begin until completion of the financing. He hopes construction could begin in May and to have the project completed in a year or less in the spring of 2026.
Wide project support
While supportive housing and veteran housing are not new concepts, he said “There really isn’t a development dedicated (to veterans) around here. There is no other (veteran exclusive) housing except in the private market.”
That’s why Mr. Chow and other CHP leaders were “pleasantly surprised” when the agency’s pioneering initiative was selected in April 2024 to receive $7.8 million in Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) funding.
Mr. Chow, who also is RIHA’s executive director, said the IHDA monies are a combination of state and federal dollars and CHP is responsible for a 10% local match, or about $860,000, of the total $8.6 million price tag. Its share has been offset by support from the City of Rock Island, which donated the build site, and $250,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). CHP will borrow the remainder, he told the QCBJ.
The development team includes: CHP, developer; Melotte Morse Leonatti Parker, Ltd., a Springfield, Illinois-based architect; engineering by Shive Hattery Inc. and Terracon, both in the Quad Cities; and Carlson Construction, based in Joliet, Illinois, as the general contractor. But Mr. Chow stressed that many of the sub-contractors will be local labor.
He credited the lineup to CHP’s success in landing the IHDA funding in its first application round. “If you don’t put together an experienced team, you don’t get through that gate.”
New housing option
Plans call for a new neighborhood – with permanent housing options – exclusively for military veterans, Mr. Chow said. The 25 new houses provide much-needed housing tailored to the unique needs of veterans. They will be built in clusters, or pods, of five homes.
“I don’t want to call these tiny homes, but they are small,” Mr. Chow said.
The detached homes will range from 500 to 550 square feet for a one bedroom and about 700 square feet for a two-bedroom house. It will include 20 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom homes.
The site recently showed signs of future construction with work trucks and heavy construction equipment present as well as an oversized pile of cleared trees. It spans along 31st Avenue, just west of U.S. Highway 67 (11th Street).
According to Mr. Chow, the City of Rock Island is retaining a one-acre parcel fronting the avenue for possible future commercial development.
“When we first started discussing the possibility of veteran housing, we met with the city and from Day One the city was agreeable to this type of development.” In fact, he credits Rock Island identifying the city-owned property as an available build site.
With Rock Island land-locked between two rivers, he said are not many suitable sites “if you need five or six acres.”
“The one site that stands out is the Walmart site,” he said, referencing a large shovel-ready parcel on 11th Street on which the city had tried unsuccessfully to bring the big box store.
Shift to permanent housing
In addition to veterans homes, the project will have a community center and office space for housing management and a shared space for area partners – including veteran-related organizations – to bring services on-site to serve the veterans.
Mr. Chow said the project already has the support of a variety of service providers including the VA, Christian Care, Community Health Center and others.
For many of the future residents, he said, this may be their first permanent housing situation.
“As I talk to a lot of partners, I remind them that in any housing development project it takes a village,” Mr. Chow said. “Advocacy will only work when we all work together.”
He admits CHP is no expert on veterans’ needs or the obstacles they face such as mental health issues and unemployment. But what CHP does know is housing and supportive housing.
“We know there are challenges sometimes if they are not ready for permanent housing, and (now) they don’t have a support system so they are bound to fail in permanent housing,” he said of a population that often is in transitional housing or even homeless. By collaborating, he said together they can identify and meet the veterans’ special needs and help them succeed in a permanent housing situation.
Chow’s 1st CHP project
The veteran housing marks CHP’s first new construction in about five years and the first new project during Mr. Chow’s tenure.
He said CHP’s last new housing development was Lincoln Residences. Built on the site where Lincoln Homes was razed, this new neighborhood is a mix of 46 single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes. CHP currently operates 700 units of housing across 24 project sites.
Prior to joining CHP about three and a half years ago, Mr. Chow served eight years as the chief of staff and chief of development and operations for the Housing Authority of Joliet. He assumed the leadership role at RIHA and CHP after Susan Anderson retired in late 2021 after 22 years at the helm.
Mr. Chow predicts the latest CHP project will be the first of many in Rock Island to address the critical need for affordable housing not only for veterans but others. He still is optimistic that CHP will redevelop the now vacant site that once housed the Valley Homes public housing project.
