Origin & History of the Housing Authority of Joliet

On April 09, 1945, the State of Illinois Housing Board approved the establishment of the Housing Authority of Joliet. A five member board comprised of local citizens with various business related backgrounds, was established and seated on December 12, 1945. Original board membership included Mr. John O. Holmes (Upholsterer), Mr. Albert H. Jackson (Editorial Department of the Chicago Times), Mr. Lee E. Coleman (Methodist Minister), Mr. William J. Downey (Business Representative of the Plumbers and Steamfitters) and Mr. Albert Felman (Boston Store Owner/Operator).

With the establishment of a board, the Housing Authority of Joliet immediately began planning the development and construction of affordable low-income public housing within the City of Joliet. During the period 1954 through 1966, the Housing Authority developed three public housing developments; Des Plaines Gardens Homes (162 – 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedroom rental units), Poole Garden Homes (106 – 2, 3, 4, and 5 bedroom rental units), and Fairview Homes (168 – 2, 3, 4, and 5 bedroom rental units). Of the 436 rental units that were developed during this period, 28 rental units were set aside for elderly households and the remaining 408 rental units were set aside for families. From 1967 through 1971, the Housing Authority of Joliet embarked on an expansion program and added four additional public housing developments for elderly households. A total of 663 efficiency, 1 and 2 bedroom rental units were built to accommodate the growing housing assistance need for elderly individuals and couples. In all, during the period of 1954 through 1971, 1099 rental units were constructed as affordable housing options for low income households.

As is with the passing of time, buildings and critical infrastructure begin to accumulate major repair, renovation and upgrading needs in order to maintain a level of service and safety necessary to continue to provide affordable housing assistance. However, with limited availability of HUD modernization and operating funds, Housing Authorities often find themselves in a position of either attempting to maintain functionally obsolete buildings and infrastructure or identifying both HUD and non-HUD funds necessary to demolish, rebuild, and/or re-purpose properties. This was the situation the housing authority faced in mid-2000. The Housing Authority of Joliet applied for and obtained approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to demolish the public housing development of Poole Garden Homes and to build in its place an affordable housing/mixed-income homeownership housing development using a combination of Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago Affordable Housing Program funds, State of Illinois Housing Trust funds, low-income housing tax credit funds, HOME funds, and Public Housing Program and Housing Choice Voucher Program funds. The new housing development, known as Liberty Landing, provides affordable home-ownership housing options to 158 low-income households (52 more households than the original Poole Garden Homes housing development was built to serve).

Similarly, a large number of rental units located within the Des Plaines Gardens Homes housing development also faced the same set of circumstances as those that troubled Poole Garden Homes. The Housing Authority of Joliet determined that estimated repairs, replacements, modernization and upgrade needs far exceeded reasonable redevelopment costs and it became apparent that the Des Plaines Gardens Homes housing development needed to be demolished and redeveloped. In Fall 2015, the Housing Authority applied for and obtained approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to demolish 122 of 162 rental units within the Des Plaines Gardens Homes housing development. 68 rental units were built within the existing footprint of the housing development and the remaining rental units were placed within the last construction phase associated with Liberty Landing. In late Fall 2015, the Housing Authority began vacating rental units within the Des Plaines Gardens Homes housing development and completed the relocation process with residents in early March 2016. In late Spring 2016, the Housing Authority of Joliet began the demolition of the existing housing development and began an 18-month redevelopment process in Fall 2016. The 68-unit community, Water’s Edge, was completed in 2018.

Fairview Homes was the last of the original housing development properties to be demolished. They were demolished in 2019.

Over the years as communities within Will County thrived and grew, so did the need for additional affordable rental housing. It is this growth that prompted the Housing Authority of Joliet to further develop additional properties and to seek out additional low-income housing programs to meet the escalating affordable rental housing needs. Currently, the Housing Authority of Joliet is providing approximately 4,155 households with affordable housing assistance through the following Federal and State funded programs: