A new $9.6 million housing development that pairs permanent homes with direct access to health care has opened in Champaign County. The Illinois Housing Development Authority marked the grand opening of Hope Village alongside Carle Health, Champaign County Health Care Consumers, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, local officials and community members.
The development offers 24 homes for the county's chronically unhoused and medically fragile residents. It was built on previously vacant land just north of downtown Champaign, near mass transit, Douglass Park, Carle Foundation Hospital and other amenities, according to IHDA.
Through Carle Health and Champaign County Health Care Consumers, residents and people in the surrounding neighborhood will be connected to medical services including preventative care, wellness visits and laboratory services.
The homes
Hope Village features 24 one-bedroom, single-story homes. Each home includes a bed, bathroom, kitchen, living space, dishwasher and private porch. Residents also have access to secure bicycle parking, walking paths and a community garden.
Who qualifies
All residents are referred to Hope Village from the Champaign-Urbana Coordinated Entry System and must earn at or below 30% of the Area Median Income — approximately $23,300 annually for a one-person household in Champaign County, according to IHDA. Housing Choice Vouchers from the Housing Authority of Champaign County subsidize the rent for all 24 homes.
What leaders said
"Housing is healthcare. A person's ability to recover, manage a medical condition, and maintain their health is directly connected to having a safe, stable place to call home," said IHDA Deputy Executive Director Karen Davis. She said the project is part of the national Healthy Housing, Healthy Communities initiative aimed at bringing housing and health care partners together.
"Our care teams continue to see the significant consequences patients experience with an inability to manage chronic conditions, recover from illness or injury and maintain good health without a safe, stable place to live," said James C. Leonard, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carle Health. "For people experiencing homelessness while also managing serious health challenges, a permanent and stable home can create an entirely different foundation for their lives."
"For the individuals who will call Hope Village home, this is about more than having a roof over their heads. It's about having the stability, dignity, and support they need to move forward," said Drew Martin, Executive Director of Hope Village.
Neighborhood services and funding
As part of the initiative, Carle Health and the University of Illinois are supporting neighborhood health services, including a mobile care clinic and a produce truck to help address health care disparities and food insecurity in the surrounding community.
Hope Village received $7 million in funding from IHDA through the Rebuild Illinois Capital Bill, along with $2 million in grants from Carle Health and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a construction loan from PNC Bank. The development was awarded funding under Round X of IHDA's Permanent Supportive Housing Development Program.
The Healthy Housing, Healthy Communities initiative, created by the National Council of State Housing Agencies and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, connected Carle with IHDA. IHDA was one of six state housing finance agencies to receive a grant under the program and is also supporting a second such development in Peoria.
Source: the original release