‘Let’s build something’ 

An $8.6 million project to build 25 modern homes for military veterans is moving forward. Local officials are using a familiar phrase to help get that project moving: Vets will soon have a place to call home. “We are taking a step in the right direction, and we are doing it together. … This will […]

An $8.6 million project to build 25 modern homes for military veterans is moving forward. Local officials are using a familiar phrase to help get that project moving: Vets will soon have a place to call home. “We are taking a step in the right direction, and we are doing it together. … This will offer our veterans a place to call home,” said John Chow, CEO of Community Home Partners (CHP), the managing entity for the Rock Island Housing Authority (RIHA) and the group building the homes.

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Mr. Chow was one of 11 speakers on Friday, April 25, during an hour-long ground-breaking ceremony held at the housing project site at 950 31st Ave., Rock Island. That 4.5-acre parcel is currently an empty field that was once owned by Dingeldein Gardens. It currently has a large pile of downed trees on the north side, and sits next to a McDonald’s restaurant and across the street from a Dollar Tree store. But the speakers and about 200 supporters and guests who showed up for the ceremony on Friday were looking to the future of the empty land. Ceremony organizers asked the crowd to see the land as it will be in a little over a year when it will be converted into 25 new homes. “It’s vision taking root. … We are not just laying down concrete. We are laying down dreams,” said Mark Smith, a local businessman and the event’s master of ceremonies. The dream of building a series of small homes for veterans in need surrounded the crowd Friday.  The event included the presentation of hundreds of small American flags and CHP pins to people at the ceremony. Veterans were on hand as the ceremony featured the Presentation of Colors, national anthem and Pledge of Allegiance. Also, seven posterboards on display showed the floorplans for the one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes, and other details of the project. Here are some of the facts of the veteran homes project:

• Timeline: Construction on the homes is expected to begin this June and be complete in June of 2026, Mr. Chow said. The CHP leader added that he hopes financing for the housing project will be complete in the coming weeks, and that will allow construction work to start this summer.
• The home: The 25 new houses will be built in clusters, or pods, of five homes. 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 project also calls for the construction of a community center and management office.
• The development team: 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. The sub-contractors will be local labor.  
• Financing: CHP was selected in April 2024 to receive $7.8 million in Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) funding for the project. The IHDA funds are a combination of state and federal dollars. 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).
• Who will live in the new homes? Officials have yet to decide the eligibility requirements for the veterans who will rent the new homes. The housing project has yet to be named.

Illinois State Rep. Daniel Swanson, R-Woodhull, told the crowd that the new homes are needed because many parts of the country have become “veterans deserts.” That is, places where veterans cannot find services, support or housing. Illinois State Rep. Gregg Johnson, D-East Moline, added that he hopes the veterans housing project will become “a blueprint of how we will take care of those who took care of us.” Much of Friday’s ceremony centered on thanking the many people and groups that are supporting the project. A “Thank You” banner placed at the front of the ceremony greeted those supporters who included: Melotte Morse Leonatti Parker, Ltd.; the City of Rock Island; the Illinois Housing Development Authority; the Veterans Assistance Commission; Community Home Partners; and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The ceremony’s keynote speaker said those groups and others are part of a collaborative effort to make the dream of a veterans housing project a reality. “In Rock Island, we seem to get it right. We know it takes a village (to get these projects to move forward),” said George Guy, a Rock Island native who is now president of The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO). (The NAHRO is a membership group of more than 26,000 housing and community development officials.) He added that partnerships will help improve and reimage communities, even in these uncertain times of federal budget cuts. “Let’s be optimistic and opportunistic. … Let’s get to work and let’s build something,” he said. Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms said that he hopes the community will keep veterans in mind when that building starts. “These people gave a lot. Their families gave a lot. … What a great place this will be for them to call home,” he added.