Colleen Lively found herself living in a Woodstock homeless encampment when she got the call in October that she was getting one of the units in McHenry’s Taylor Place Apartments.

Kimberly Meadows works at the McHenry Public Library. Her cost of living – rent, medical expenses and replacing her aging car – was rising faster than her single-person salary could handle. She signed her Taylor Place lease on Oct. 8.

Both of the McHenry County women were at the 50-unit workforce housing building’s recent grand opening and ribbon cutting.

The Housing Opportunity Development Corporation, along with Northpointe Development, worked with the city of McHenry, the county, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster’s office and other agencies to bring the 50-unit workforce housing development, at 4107 W. Crystal Lake Road, to McHenry.

Taylor Place is originally the A.H. Hanly and Sons Brick Mill, built in 1870, and later was the original TaylorMade Golf headquarters. Demolition on the former industrial site began in summer 2024, and the buildings opened last October. The original brick mill building is now the leasing office and community center.

Taylor Place received $1.7 million in funding from McHenry County, including $800,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal COVID-19 relief program. Foster’s office secured a $1.25 million federal grant for the apartments, and the McHenry City Council waived $158,932 in impact fees, Mayor Wayne Jett has noted.

The entire project cost was $25 million, said Richard Koenig, executive director of Housing Opportunity Development Corporation. A majority of that funding was via tax credits or private equity, he added.

Every U.S. state gets an allocation of tax credits based on its population, and each state decides – competitively – which projects get those tax credits, Koenig said. Investors buy those credits, and those proceeds go toward the construction of workforce housing projects.

In exchange for those credits, the investors pay reduced federal taxes but also are owners of the buildings.

“It is private investment and privately controlled,” Koenig said. “It is a high-quality project that serves the market.”

The units must remain affordable for 30 years.

Residents pay rents that are less than market rate, no more than 30% of their total income.

“Residents have to earn less than 60% of median income” for an area to qualify, Koenig said, with some units set aside for those making significantly less. Rent varies by bedroom size, but the average is $1,000 a month, he said.

In comparison, market-rate apartments in the McHenry area – even a one-bedroom – are upward of $1,350 a month.

Lively, who has worked in health care, said she found herself homeless after working as a live-in caretaker for a friend in Franklin Park. When the man had to be hospitalized, she had to find new housing – while also looking for work.

She came to McHenry because her son lives there with her ex-husband. She lived out of her car for a while, but it was towed from a parking lot, and Lively said she didn’t have money to get it back.

She does have family. Her aging mother and stepfather are in Tennessee.

“I wanted to be closer to my son,” rather than move out of Illinois, Lively said.

Now, with stable housing, she’s looking for a job in McHenry that she can get to without a car, working in customer service or reception, Lively said.

Meadows said she put in her application to live at Taylor Place last April, even as she re-signed a six-month lease where she was living.

She prayed for the construction workers every time she drove by, Meadows said.

She’s also given her unit a name.

“I am going to call this place – my personal unit – Oasis. This is my water spot in the middle of my desert,” Meadows said.