Sean Howard, a spokesman for the city of Harvey, Illinois, talks about the city’s newest offering to help Harvey victims.
A south suburban town with a close connection to those currently in Houston is offering up homes to Texas storm victims.
Harvey, Illinois will have 10 homes available for free to people who lost their homes during the catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
Sean Howard, a spokesman for the city, said volunteer tradesmen and carpenters were going to the homes this weekend and will be on hand for the next few weeks preparing the dwellings for their new residents.
The homes were acquired by the city after being lost to delinquent tax sales, Howard said. Normally, they would in turn be sold to investors to put the homes back on the market, but the city has instead decided to give them to flood victims as a new, permanent residence.
“Given the plight to which the victims in Houston are enduring, our mayor felt compelled to have those investors come and donate their contract services to fix these homes up with the material and labor necessary for the purpose of if victims would find themselves landing in Chicago we can offer those homes to them just like we did over 10 years ago with Katrina victims,” Howard said.
The city did offer a similar program to victims of Hurricane Katrina, Howard said, noting that many of the residents who moved into those homes are still living in the city.
Renovations will take between six and seven weeks to complete, Howard said.
The city has also sent emergency personnel down to Houston to assist in recovery efforts.
Anyone with questions on the housing project, or those looking to help or donate to the project, can call (708) 210-5300, extension 6.
