WOODLAND FOOTHILLS: LOT 1 & 2

In 2022, we returned to Woodland Foothills with a new opportunity: building two homes side by side—Lot 1 and Lot 2. These homes continued the same values we had started with: build modest, efficient, and attainable housing for working families in Cook County. But this time, the timing made the impact even more meaningful.

At the time, I was serving on the board of the newly formed Cook County Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA). We were deep into the hiring process for the Authority’s first Executive Director, someone who would be tasked with coordinating the public side of the county’s housing response.

But there was one major problem: he had nowhere to live. That’s where Lot 1 came in.

We sold the house to the incoming HRA Director, and that single transaction unlocked his ability to relocate to Cook County and get to work. It’s one of those rare moments where all the theory and talk about “barriers to housing” crystallized into something very real—and fixable.

Lot 2, meanwhile, followed a quieter but equally important path. It became a rental home, and has since housed two different families. Like the other homes in the series, it wasn’t designed to impress—it was designed to function, to last, and to serve.

After a year on the HRA board, I chose to resign. The decision wasn’t out of frustration—it was a realization. I understood that my time and effort were more impactful when I was building homes directly. Boards and committees have their place, and

I’m grateful for the experience. But I also know where my energy belongs.

Lot 1 and Lot 2 reminded me of that. They showed what can happen when you take a practical, private approach to solving a public problem. And in their own way, they each did something that public funding, housing studies, and policies often struggle to do: put real people in real homes, right when it mattered most.