This is the second in a three-part series examining housing affordability and access in Will County. Read all the articles here.

Although Will County is one of the top producers of single-family homes in Illinois, some population groups struggle to find any housing to fit their needs and budgets.

Recent college graduates, for example, typically don’t need a 2,500-square-foot house, said Doug Pryor, president and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development. But they do need affordable housing.

That’s ultimately what Dominic Pelayo, 24, of Crest Hill, wants, too.

Pelayo recently graduated from Lewis University in Romeoville with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a minor in finance, and currently is working as a design technician.

Pelayo also is living at home with his parents and has no immediate plans to move out, he said.

[ We want to hear from you. Share your experiences about housing in Will County. ]

Most area one-bedroom apartments range from $1,500 to $1,800, which neither he – nor many of his friends – can afford, he said.

“I’m definitely resigned to the fact that I’m going to have to rent at some point. And it’s not favorable,” Pelayo said. “As I look to blossom into an adult and continue to grow, I’m going to need a place of my own to do that.”

Pelayo said he created a housing study during his final semester in college. He said a young couple needs a combined income of $100,000 to afford a house, assuming the average housing cost is $500,000.

Realistically, many young couples’ combined income is between $50,000 and $70,000, which means “wages are just not in line” with housing costs, and today’s young people will wait longer than previous generations before buying, Pelayo said.

Yet on the flip side, seniors whose homes are worth five times their initial investments can’t sell their homes because no one can afford to buy them, Pelayo said.

This leads to shortages and people “fighting each other” for available spots, he added.

“It really should be everyone coming together to have equal opportunity to get this place,” Pelayo said. “But that’s not the case right now.”

Seniors struggle to downsize

On Dec. 3, the Romeoville Village Board was presented a concept plan for a proposed active-adult residential community.

Clover Development presented the project, which consists of a single three-story building featuring 122 market-rate units for residents 55 and older who no longer want to own their homes but aren’t ready for full-service retirement centers, the village said.

However, the problem with market-rate housing for seniors is that many seniors can’t afford to move out of their more affordable current home, which further contributes to the housing shortage, said Karen Robertson of Crosstown Realtors in Plainfield.

Furthermore, programs are now available to help seniors safely “age in place, so it doesn’t make financial sense with today’s prices to go out of their home,” Robertson said.

“This completely clogs up the housing market for available inventory for the next generation,” she said.

Builders often can’t afford to build multifamily homes, or they run into zoning issues or neighbors who don’t want “that in my backyard,” Robertson said.

Small two-bedroom homes with or without basements also are in short supply, and seniors compete with first-time homebuyers for those homes, Robertson said.

So seniors often stay in their homes until their life situation drastically changes or they die, Robertson said.

“I feel bad for people who are stuck,” Robertson said.

Jan Stack, 74, of Joliet, was living on the first floor of a two-flat in 2023 when she decided that it was time to retire from the Joliet Public Library and downsize her living space.

But Stack struggled to find suitable housing.

“I looked at apartments and retirement places,” Stack said. “But unless you have buckets of money, you can’t afford them. Some of those independent-living places are $3,000 to $5,000 a month. Who’s got that kind of money?”

So Stack looked at subsidized housing, and that came with wait lists of three to eight years, she said. One place told her it had 33 people ahead of her.

In the meantime, Stack had to find new homes for her baby grand piano, a china cabinet, a dining room set, an entertainment center and a couch “that was way too big.”

Stack said the waiting list at Joshua Arms, a low-income senior housing facility in Joliet, was the shortest, and she could afford the rent on her Social Security.

She moved into her new apartment several weeks ago, and Stack said she loves everything about her new home on the 15th floor of Joshua Arms Senior Residences in Joliet.

“The apartment is bright and clean, and the management staff is wonderful,” Stack said. “The windows are huge, and I have a beautiful view I can see from my window. It’s full of trees, and it was just beautiful this fall.”

Stack said Joshua Arms offers many activities, laundry facilities, a beauty shop and a country store. The other residents are friendly and welcoming, she said.

“And you can buy meal tickets if you don’t feel like cooking and eat in the dining room,” Stack said.

Stack also appreciates that Joshua Arms offers both independent- and assistive-living options.

“So if you’re in independent living and you need assistant living, you just move downstairs,” Stack said.

Many lifestyle needs not being met

Divorced parents hoping to live near their children’s community may need smaller units, said Martha Sojka, community development administrator of the Will County Land Use Department.

So do young adults delaying marriage and raising families, she added.

“The demographics are not aligned with what we’re producing,” Sojka said.

In short, Will County needs affordable senior housing, multifamily rental housing and entry-level homes for middle-income households, she said.

That’s why Will County “would benefit from more housing inventory of all kinds,” Pryor said.

“It’s about creating opportunities for people to live in and flourish in in Will County at different parts of their life cycle,” Pryor said.

Creating those opportunities also fosters economically healthy communities.

“We have a great growth story in Will County. And we have some incredible assets,” Pryor said. “But when you talk about continually growing the community with amenities that include restaurants, retails and experiential, the way you accomplish that is through rooftops – residents. As companies make location decisions, especially for that class of business, very often they follow income profiles and population numbers.”

For now, Pelayo said he plans to pay off his student loans, get his career established and increase his earnings because he would like to marry and then buy a house before starting a family.

To increase rental affordability in the short term, Pelayo said he and some friends have discussed renting a house together.

He acknowledges that it’s not just young adults facing challenges to find good housing.

“Housing has become unattainable for the average working-class person,” Pelayo said.

This article is part of a national initiative exploring how geography, policy, and local conditions influence access to opportunity. Find more stories ateconomicopportunitylab.com/.