SILVIS, Ill. — The Rock Island County Housing Finance Corporation (RICHFC), a nonprofit affiliate of the Greater Metropolitan Area Housing Authority of Rock Island County, wants to build a new affordable housing development in Silvis.
RICHFC announced it received around $7 million in funding last month from a National Housing Trust Fund Grant and a State Housing Fund Loan.
It's looking to build Apoyo Village near the Silvis DMV on 5th Street. Apoyo Village is a 24-unit "multifamily housing development."
RICHFC CEO Amy Clark said it wants to fill an affordable housing gap in the Quad Cities.
Last year, for every 100 low income renter households, there are only 37 available and affordable units in the Quad Cities, according to Humility Homes. That means there is a gap of 6,645 units needed to meet the community's needs.
"Cleary, there's an affordable housing shortage everywhere in the country," Clark said.
She added that they have a four-year-long waiting list of people trying to get into its already established units in the area. However, some neighbors have expressed concern about the project, including Nick Carlson who lives next to the proposed development.
"I think there are places that are the right place and the right way to do it," Carlson said during an Economic Development Committee meeting Tuesday night, Feb. 22 in Silvis City Hall. "I have a hard time thinking that this is the right place to do it."
He obtained letters of support for the project through a Freedom of Information Act request. Two of those letters are from Safer Foundation Quad Cities and the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Safer Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that helps people with arrest and conviction records to become employed, law abiding members of the community.
"This letter indicates that IDOC would be willing to coordinate with the vendor to provide a pipeline of returning citizens that it believes need permanent supportive housing," Acting Director of the IDOC Rob Jeffreys said in the letter.
But Clark maintains that all residents of Apoyo Village will need to pass a criminal background check.
"They can't owe money to any landlord and they can't have prior evictions, or they can't get in our program," Clark said. "And if they do get in our program, and they break the law, they use drugs, they violate the peace and the tranquility of the property, they get the boot because believe it or not, I don't want those folks there either. You don't want them to be your neighbors, and I don't want them to rent from me."
Clark also said the development will provide services to the tenants, including financial literacy. The goal is for people to be able to move on and become homeowners themselves.
Tuesday night's Economic Development Committee meeting was a chance for Silvis City Council members to ask Clark questions about the project. One of the main concerns from some was a lack of transparency over the course of the project so far.
Clark said RICHFC usually doesn't start working with the city until financing has been secured, the point it's at now.
"I think we just need to determine how to move forward with the communication and try to have some effective and productive questions and answers and just make sure we get that transparent communication flowing," Silvis City Administrator Nevada Lemke said.
RICHFC still has several steps it needs to take before it can break ground on Apoyo Village. It must submit development plans to the city and conduct an environmental land review.
"We're not breaking ground tomorrow," Clark said. "We're just at that point where the probability exists, because we have the financing lined up, should we choose to move forward."
She added that it's too early to determine when construction might begin, but RICHFC is hoping it'll be this fall.
However, she did also state that if it decides that the city and public really do not want the new housing development, RICHFC will return the $7 million and not build Apoyo Village.
The Greater Metropolitan Area Housing Authority of Rock Island County owns six other developments in East Moline, Moline, Milan and Silvis.