Housing Authority of Joliet introduces Liberty Landing

The Housing Authority of Joliet put the finishing touch on its first mixed-income housing development and renamed it Liberty Landing.

Housing officials and others gathered Thursday at the new training center in the subdivision that was named Liberty Meadow Estates when it opened in 2008.

“This building symbolizes what we hope to create in residents who live here, which is wealth,” said Michael Simleton, chief executive officer for the Housing Authority of Joliet.

Liberty Landing is a tree-lined subdivision with a mix of single-family homes and duplexes that provide affordable housing for residents of mixed-income levels. It replaced the former Poole Garden Homes public housing project.

The subdivision creates a pathway toward home ownership, and one of the purposes of the training center is to provide instruction in home maintenance and financing. The center will be put to use in about a month, HAJ officials said.

The creation of Liberty Landing, located along Briggs Street north of Route 6, was followed by Water’s Edge, a mixed-income town home development that replaced the Des Plaines Garden Homes in 2017.

HAJ has created the communities through Hope Bound Development Corp., an affiliated development group that has its eyes on a potential subdivision at the former Joliet Country Club.

Simelton said Liberty Meadow Estates was renamed Liberty Landing to represent “a transfer from the public arena. Our nonprofit, Hope Bound, is what we’re trying to promote.”

The training center and some of the most recently built homes in Liberty Landing border Forest Park, the park that serves the Forest Park neighborhood.

Joliet Councilwoman Bettye Gavin, who also is the executive director for the Forest Park Community Center, commented on the progress made in replacing Poole Garden, which also was located in Forest Park, with the new subdivision.

“When I look back on what it used to be and what it is now, it’s a proud moment,” Gavin said. “To see this spring up is like a phoenix rising from the ashes.”

HAJ board Chairwoman Glenda Wright-McCullum said the board supports the plan to develop a mixed-income community at the former Joliet Country Club.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea and another part of the advancement in changing the landscape of affordable housing,” Wright-McCullum said.

HAJ is waiting for Congress to determine the fate of $3 million proposed for the Joliet Country Club project.

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, who proposed the funding and was at Liberty Landing on Thursday, said the proposal “easily” cleared the House and is awaiting a decision in the Senate. A decision could be two months away, Foster said.

The last phase of Liberty Landing, 42 units built for senior residents and completed in 2020, attracted more than 400 applicants in two weeks after a waiting list was started, said HAJ Chief of Development and Operations John Chow.

Turnover is low with a handful of homes becoming available each year, he said.

“It tells you there is a demand for affordable housing,” Chow said.