JOLIET – The Hope Manor veterans housing project has received more financial support.

BMO Harris Bank is the sponsor bank for an $850,000 federal grant that will help pay for the $15 million project.

Volunteers of America Illinois will build the 67-unit Home Manor apartment complex for low-income and homeless veterans on Silver Cross Hospital's former Joliet campus.

The latest grant brings VOA Illinois within $1 million of the funding needed to build the project, Nancy Hughes Moyer, president and CEO of the Chicago-based organization, said in an email.

Most of the project is being covered through tax credits approved by the Illinois Housing Development Authority in October. Those tax credits amount to 85 percent of the needed funding.

VOA Illinois expects to begin construction in the fall. The project will take an estimated year to build.

BMO Harris Bank in a news release said the bank was a partner with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago in providing the $850,000 for the Joliet project. Hope Manor was one of 43 housing projects that received nearly $22 million in funding through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, according to BMO Harris.

VOA Illinois also has opened veterans housing in Chicago. The housing complexes are designed to provide affordable housing along with counseling to assist veterans in finding employment.