A nonprofit affordable housing developer opened a 48-unit apartment building in downtown Northbrook June 30 for people living with developmental or intellectual disabilities.
Poupard Place, located at 1593 Shermer Road, was developed by the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation, a not-for-profit affordable housing developer based in Skokie, through a partnership with the Village of Northbrook. The building serves individuals living with a disability or who have at least one person in their household living with a disability, and earn up to 60% of the Area Median Income.
“The Village recognized the overall growing need in the suburbs for affordable housing and was instrumental in making it happen,” said Richard Koenig, executive director of the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation.
“The trustees recognized there are a lot of folks in town who have disabilities, so that was a target population that they really wanted to try and serve.”
Koenig said demand has been high for the 48-unit building, with the organization receiving 600 applications for a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.
The building was designed with several ADA accessibility features, he added, including two elevators, handles instead of knobs on doors and some fully handicapped units with lower countertops. There is no age limit for who is allowed to live in the building.
“There’s an extensive process for checking people’s income and qualifying them,” said Koenig. “So we’ve been moving in people all through the month of June, and then we’ll move them in July and August. Hopefully by the end of August, we’ll be pretty full.”
The Village Board unanimously approved the project in February 2025. The development is backed by a $24 million investment of public and private funds, including a $1 million grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago.
Public funds were provided by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and Cook County, said Koenig. IHDA also allocated federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits which were purchased by the National Equity Fund (NEF) using private capital.
The Federal Home Loan Bank provided the grant through Wintrust Bank, Koenig added, and a grant was also provided by ComEd. The Village of Northbrook donated the land.
According to the Poupard Place website, rents for a one-bedroom apartment start at $700, two-bedroom rents start at $900, and three bedroom rents start at $1,100.
The name Poupard Place honors Tom Poupard, the Village’s retired director of development and planning services, and longtime champion of affordable housing.
The ribbon cutting ceremony June 30, attended by around 150 people, according to organizers, drew city and state officials alike, with remarks made by Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle, Village President Kathryn Ciesla and Tom Poupard himself, among others.
“Today is about creating opportunity, expanding access and strengthening our community,” said Ciesla at the opening ceremony. “We hope this project serves as an example that inspires other communities to pursue affordable and supportive housing opportunities of their own.”
Ciesla also referenced the village’s affordable housing trust fund, which collects money from a city demolition tax and was established with a goal of making home ownership more feasible for low-to-middle-income families.
Koenig emphasized that the village’s adoption of an inclusionary zoning ordinance has also helped make Poupard Place, along with other recent affordable housing developments, a reality.
Northbrook passed its inclusionary housing ordinance in late 2020, requiring developers to designate affordable units for new residential projects, joining a growing number of North Shore communities adopting similar ordinances to boost affordable housing stock.
“Here in the North Shore, there are a lot of communities that have more expensive housing costs and are looking for more affordable options,” he said.
