Future Joliet residential recovery complex would allow spouses of women

Women and children won’t be the only residents in a residential recovery complex for female addicts to be built in Joliet.

Hope Manor Village will make room for partners of the women residents, too.

The City Council in a 5-3 vote a year ago approved Hope Manor Village, which was described then as a residential recovery center for women fighting addictions to drugs, particularly opioids, and their children.

An executive with Volunteers of America Illinois, the nonprofit group that will build and manage Hope Manor Village, last month told the Joliet Plan Commission that partners of women admitted to the center also will live there.

“We are targeting women and their children,” Marco Murillo, senior director of real estate development for VOA Illinois told the Plan Commission at its Nov. 21 meeting. “In certain instances when the mother is married, we are allowing them to live with their partners.”

Murillo responded to questions from Commissioner Dominic Orlando about living arrangements for the apartments.

The commission approved the Planned Unit Development outlining how the complex will be built. The PUD next goes to the City Council for a vote, which is expected to be at the council’s meeting Dec. 17.

The complex will include 48 apartments divided between two buildings, one of which will include offices for support services for residents.

Hope Manor Village is being built on the former campus of Silver Cross Hospital. It will be across Copperfield Avenue from the Hope Manor apartments previously built for homeless veterans by VOA Illinois.

Scott Paddock, senior vice president of external affairs at Silver Cross, told the commission that the hospital administration supports the VOA Illinois project.

“They have a tremendous track record of service with the last Hope Manor,” Paddock said, adding that the apartment complex looks “brand new’ seven years after it was built.

Orlando and Commissioner Michael Turk asked questions about residency requirements for the next Hope Manor before joining others in voting 9-0 for the PUD.

“How long will the residents be allowed to stay there?” Orlando asked.

Residents get a one-year lease that can be renewed if they qualify, Murillo said. “The goal is to provide them with a stable place to live and support services so they are able to move on and live independently,” he said.

Rent will be based on the occupants’ ability to pay, he said.

Security will include cameras and a security employee on the premises, Murillo said. Visitors will be required to check in and out at a front desk.