Concerned Parents of Illinois founder questions $1.75 million Glen Ellyn housing project approved unanimously by DuPage County
Kristina McCloy, founder of Concerned Parents of Illinois, said the DuPage County Board’s unanimous approval of $1.75 million in federal HUD HOME funds for a 42-unit subsidized housing project in Glen Ellyn was a “stunning betrayal of DuPage taxpayers.”
“The County Board voted to bring federally controlled subsidized housing into Glen Ellyn using $1,750,000 in HUD HOME funds, an optional federal program the county did not have to accept,” McCloy told the DuPage Policy Journal.
The project, developed by Chicago-based nonprofit Full Circle Communities, Inc., will build the three-story Taft & Exmoor Apartments at 640 Taft Avenue on the site of a former Budgetel Inn and Suites.
The development is reportedly designed to serve “working families” and “persons with disabilities” and will feature 11 studio units, 17 one-bedroom units, and 14 two-bedroom units, with rents ranging from $598 to $1,886 per month, largely subsidized by taxpayer funds.
McCloy has raised concerns that the project could house tenants from outside DuPage County, including individuals whose immigration status is not verified.
“The project is not limited to DuPage County residents, and federal HOME rules do not require the county to verify tenants’ citizenship or immigration status. It will impose long term burdens on one of the most stable communities in our county. The Board had every opportunity to reject it or direct the funds to legal DuPage senior citizens. Instead, they chose the most damaging path possible.”
The total cost of the project is estimated at $21.9 million, primarily funded through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and DuPage Housing Authority vouchers.
The development traces back to 2024, when the Glen Ellyn Village Board approved the sale of two village-owned properties at 675–677 Roosevelt Road and 660 Taft Avenue to Full Circle Communities.
The sale price of $1.75 million was $1.1 million less than the village's original purchase price.
McCloy noted the voluntary nature of the county funding.
“Glen Ellyn first voted to advance the development in February 2024, when its Village Board approved the sale of village-owned property to the developer,” she said. “But even after that vote, DuPage County was under no obligation to fund the project. The County Board voluntarily committed $1,750,000 in HUD HOME funds, a choice that made the project financially viable.”
She also noted that HOME dollars can be spent on other local programs, including home repairs, senior safety upgrades, and community-focused rehabilitation projects.
“None of these funds are required to go toward new construction,” McCloy said. “In fact, the entire $1,750,000 could have been used for a HOME funded repair program serving DuPage seniors, paying for roof repairs, accessibility upgrades, and basic safety work for the people already living here instead of underwriting new construction. Instead, the County Board chose to divert the full amount into a multi-unit subsidized housing project, the most harmful choice they could have made for our communities, committing the site to subsidized housing while ignoring the urgent needs of existing DuPage residents.”
McCloy also detailed the county’s voting process.
“At no point in the approval process did any Republican vote against the measure,” she said. “The funding first passed through the Human Services Committee and the Finance Committee, the two bodies responsible for vetting and advancing the resolution before it reached the full County Board. The Human Services Committee’s Republican members are Cindy Cronin Cahill and Kari Galassi. The Finance Committee’s Republican members are Cindy Cronin Cahill, Kari Galassi, Brian Krajewski, Grant Eckhoff, Sam Tornatore, and James Zay. Cronin Cahill and Galassi sit on both committees, and both were present as the item advanced with no Republican recorded as a no vote.”
Full Circle has completed 10 similar projects across Illinois, totaling more than 616 housing units, and is active throughout the Midwest, including developments in Michigan and Iowa.
The Glen Ellyn project received support from U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), who advocated for expanding subsidized housing in the area and secured $750,000 in federal funding for site preparation and demolition.
Full Circle is led by President and CEO Joshua Wilmoth, who joined the organization in 2008 and became CEO in 2017. The nonprofit has worked on nearly 5,000 units nationwide since Wilmoth began his career.
Wilmoth has publicly supported policies to raise real estate taxes to fund housing initiatives, including Chicago’s “Bring Chicago Home” referendum in 2024, which proposed increasing real estate transfer taxes on sales over $1 million.
In a letter published by the Chicago Sun-Times, Wilmoth said the measure would help fund the city’s “homelessness and housing affordability crisis.” The referendum failed at the ballot.
McCloy said the Glen Ellyn housing vote was approved during the same County Board meeting as another funding decision involving a regional planning agency.
“On the same day the Glen Ellyn HOME project was approved, the County Board also approved an $81,640.89 contribution to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, CMAP,” she said. “CMAP is a regional planning agency headquartered in Chicago and is designed to influence all seven counties of the metropolitan region. This contribution is entirely voluntary, drawn directly from DuPage taxpayers. Both committees advanced the funding with no Republican recorded as a no vote. At the full County Board meeting, again, no Republican is recorded as voting no.”
On its website, CMAP notes that it supports regional efforts addressing “equity, environmental, and other quality-of-life issues.”
CMAP notably backed Illinois’ new transit legislation, signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, which redirects over $500 million annually from constitutionally protected road funds in suburban and downstate communities to Chicago’s CTA, Metra and Pace, while raising tolls by $1 billion statewide and consolidating transit authority in Cook County.
“By passing the Glen Ellyn HOME project and the CMAP contribution in one session, the DuPage County Board aligned itself with a Chicago-style agenda, forcing dense subsidized housing into suburban communities and expanding access to populations outside DuPage County ahead of the lawful residents they were elected to represent,” McCloy said.