May 7, 2012

Mount Prospect, Illinois

Ground Breaking on the Myers Place Permanent Supportive Housing Project

For more than a year and a half, the Task Force has been working with the Daveri Development Group and the Kenneth Young Center – the community mental health center for Elk Grove and Schaumburg Townships – on a permanent supportive housing (PSH) project for people with disabilities, especially mental illness, in Mt. Prospect.

In April, 2011 the Mt. Prospect Village Board gave unanimous approval to the proposal, a four story building with 39 units of PSH on the top floors and a health care clinic on the ground floor. There would also be offices for the staff from the Kenneth Young Center who would provide on-site services for the residents. The building was planned for the corner of Dempster, Busse and Algonquin Rds. on the south side of town.

There was nary a NIMBY in sight at the meeting – or at any of the meetings leading up to that final vote. But there were many Taskers in the audience at every step of the way. After the final vote, Mt. Prospect Village President Irvana Wilks, said that she can only vote if there is a tie, but that she would have voted yes if she could have. Then she said, “Welcome to Mt. Prospect.”

What a difference from Arlington Heights’ reaction to permanent supportive housing the year before!

It took a year after that vote for Daveri and the Kenneth Young Center to make the final arrangements, including construction funding from the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and Section 8 rental assistance grants from the Housing Authority of Cook County. 

Myers Place, as the project is named, is expected to open for residents to move in by the summer of 2013!