Critical need: New Kankakee County housing still sought

When it comes to new house construction, one area business leader holds this belief: If a community is not growing, it’s dying.

With that perspective, Tim Nugent, president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County, said it would not be an exaggeration to state Kankakee County – in terms of significant new housing development – is in need of critical emergency medical attention.

“I’m of the belief that a community either grows or it dies,” he said.

A recent housing study commissioned by the alliance and authored by Schaumburg-based consultant Tracy Cross & Associates Inc. said Kankakee County needs to annually construct 500-600 housing units – either single-family houses, condominiums or apartments – to satisfy its needs.

Right now, it is not.

And while alliance leadership has met or had conversations with developers during the past few years, developments are only imagined, rather than real.

It would not be fair to paint Kankakee County as the only region with bare potential housing lots, but it is a region that has not experienced sustained new housing starts since the 2008 and 2009 Great Recession.

Many developers have been approached. They have expressed interest. They like the region. But the hammer has yet to hit the nail.

“They are bold on the idea that it’s needed,” Nugent said. “But who will do it? We are certainly not turning people away who want to build houses.”

Statewide housing shortage

According to a recently published Illinois Economic Policy Institute study, housing remains more affordable in Illinois than in many states.

The report concluded, however, that Illinois faces an existing housing shortage of 142,000 units and needs to build 227,000 new homes over the next five years to keep pace with demand.

“Stable housing markets rely on finding a balance between economic and demographic factors that drive demand with regulatory policies and industry dynamics that influence supply,” said Frank Manzo IV, the ILEPI economist and study co-author.

“Without a stable equilibrium, families are left unable to find housing, unable to afford housing or both. This dynamic is playing out not just in Illinois, but in a growing number of states across our country.”

Tina Franklin, executive director of the Kankakee-Iroquois-Ford Association of Realtors, said as of June, there were 191 single-family houses listed for sale in Kankakee County. In June 2024, the number was 149.

While the number is up by 42, it is still far too low.

Franklin said the 191 figure equates to about a two-month supply of house listings. She said to have a healthy home-sale supply, the inventory should be able to last three to four months, meaning there are far too few homes available for sale.

The lack of homes, she noted, makes it challenging for first-time homebuyers to enter the market.

Double-edged sword

The lack of inventory presents a challenge for older homeowners to downsize from a larger dwelling where they raised their children, to a smaller house to spend their retirement years.

It becomes a double-edged sword. New buyers struggle to enter the market as “more mature” homeowners seek to exit it.

If there were an adequate inventory of “step-down” houses for the older homeowner, the dwellings targeted by incoming buyers would be more plentiful.

Age of buyers is not the only issue associated with years regarding housing: the age of the structures is also a reason for concern.

According to data from the Tracy Cross report from April, there are 45,258 Kankakee County housing units. The largest portion of those dwellings – 7,479 (16.5%) – date back to 1939 or earlier.

By comparison, housing units built between 2000 and 2009 totaled 5,723, and those built in 2010 or later totaled 1,629. The decade that saw the most housing units built was 1970 to 1979, with 8,197 homes built.

It may seem hard to believe, but dwellings constructed in the 1970s are in the 50-year-old age group.

The report noted Kankakee County had recorded an average of just 113 residential building permit authorizations annually since 2007, down nearly 80% compared to the number issued between 2000 and 2007.

Stagnant since 2010

Returning to those pre-Great Recession days may not be realistic at this point, but Nugent is searching for something similar to 2000, when 313 single-family house permits were issued; or 2002, when 379 permits were approved.

He is under no illusion that the 725 total from 2005 or the 590 from 2006 will be approached any time soon.

By comparison, 101 single-family house permits were issued in 2024. In 2023, the number was 72, the lowest total since 2012, when 66 permits were issued.

“Housing prices are going up here. Rent prices are going up even faster,” Nugent said. “We’ve been telling this story a long time. We’ve been stagnant since 2010.”

He even considers offering incentives to building companies to begin buying property and pouring foundations to restart the vital economic engine.

“How do we get one of these large builders to come here? The interest at this point is not here. To get them to branch out a little further down the road, how do we interest them?

“... How do we convince someone to come down here who has the wherewithal to do this?”

Nugent and Franklin believe the buyers will come.

“If you want growth, it’s vital,” Nugent said of home construction. “If you are not getting better, you are getting worse. Nothing stays the same.”