When Alsip Mayor John Ryan was elected in 2017, there was one part of the village he loves that he didn’t love so much.
That was the 12000 block of Hamlin, which he said was vacant since 2013, when he was a trustee.
“I viewed that area as ‘blight,’” Ryan said. “We were citing the property owner for not even maintaining it.”
As mayor, he struck out twice trying to lure prospective buyers to use the property for single-family homes.
“I brought in two different home builders to try to get that done,” he said. “Because of challenges with infrastructure, water and sewer and all of those kinds of things, the builders thought that the cost of just prepping the property would have been over $1 million and they wouldn’t make profit building homes there.”
But Ryan may have hit a home run as the village and Sertoma Star Services broke ground Oct. 22 for a new permanent supportive housing unit at that location.
The project will allow adults with disabilities to live independently while receiving personal support through programs at Sertoma Star Services.
Officials said this is a $13.7 million project with $11.9 million funding from the Illinois Housing Development Authority and $1.7 million funding from the Cook County Department of Housing and Development.
There are more funds coming from a ComEd Energy grant and a contribution from Sertoma Star Services.
Residents of the facility may receive social support and counseling, job training and placement, and assistance with grocery shopping and bill management.
There will be 25 units — 20 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom units — with each apartment having its own kitchen, bathroom and living space. There will be a community outdoor patio area and laundry room.
Officials said the site is ideal due to its proximity to stores, pharmacies, restaurants, parks, a library, recreation facilities and public transportation.
For Ryan, having a nice facility beats having to look at the “blight.”
“Let’s get rid of it and have it serve a purpose,” he said. “It’s walkable to Pulaski Street and you can have access to grocery stores, restaurants and banks. Everything is within footsteps of the property.”
He said will be a lighted sidewalk area to make the area even nicer.
The mayor is trying to get more sidewalk and bike path access into the village, including the busy area at Marist High School on 115th Street.
“I want to get the street widened with carbon gutter and I want to get more parking for the Marist folks on the north side of the street, and on the south side of the street maybe bring in bike paths to offer safe travel,” Ryan said.
Meanwhile, Sertoma Star is looking forward to its third housing project after building facilities in Homewood and Orland Park.
Palos Heights Mayor Bob Straz, who has been president of Sertoma’s board for 30 years, said there is a need for these living facilities.
“When we built in Orland Park, we had 400-600 applicants for 16 units,” he said. “It shows you what the need for this is. These people need some support to live and that’s what we provide.
“Going forward, when this opportunity came in Alsip, it was great because Alsip is the birthplace of the Sertoma Centre, and it seemed like a natural place to put it in.”
There are many organizations that help younger people with disabilities. But there are not as many who help out adults.
Straz has been with Sertoma for 48 years. He said when he was asked to join, he had no idea what Sertoma even was or what it did.
He knows now and is passionate about the work that it does.
Sertoma merged with Chicago Heights-based New Star agency in 2023 to make two strong organizations even stronger.
“It’s a matter of giving back to the community,” Straz said. “Our population are adults. We have people in their 70s. We have one or two who are close to being with us the 50 years we’ve been around.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
