Canaan Van Williams, a managing partner at an investment group that funds affordable housing, presented a request to purchase and rehabilitate a mobile home park in Blue Island to the city Tuesday night.

More than a dozen residents who have advocated to save their homes since June attended to support of Williams. The city has ordered the property owners to shut down the park due to code violations and public safety concerns,

Several residents have stated in recent months that if they lost their homes in the park, they worry they would have nowhere to go. Residents often own their mobile homes but rent the property it is on.

City officials said Tuesday that while they feel for the residents’ tough situation, the residents, along with Williams, need to follow city protocols and present a plan.

The property owners of Forest View Mobile Home Park have not signed an intent to sell document, a necessary step before city officials can start evaluating the sale of this property.

The owners include Forest View Mobile Home Park Inc., Mer-Car Corporation, Chicago Title Land Trust and Steven Dukatt, president of Mer-Car Corporation.

Peter Silverman, attorney for the property owners, said Tuesday the owners are interested in the property sale instead of shutting down the park.

“We totally recognize it’s a difficult property,” Silverman said. “This alternative seems to us to be a very promising, viable and preferable to closing down their park, but obviously it’s not for us to decide. We will follow the directive of the city.”

City Administrator Thomas Wogan said property owners need to submit the intent to sell form before the city can conduct a building, fire, environmental and health inspection and determine what would need to be done in order for the property to be sold.

Wogan also said the property is still not zoned for residential purposes, and that change would need to go through the city’s zoning board.

“We’re a little bit cart ahead of horse in this process,” Wogan said.

Blue Island City Administrator Thomas Wogan responds Tuesday to a presentation from Canaan Van Williams, managing partner at Proactive Sustainable Bonds. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)

First Ward Ald. Dexter Johnson said he visited the property Tuesday and noticed large amounts of stored garbage next to people’s homes, along with “rats the size of cats.” He also said it looks as if some residents are doing their best to take care of the property.

Johnson said it was great to hear possibilities for the park, but there needs to be a plan for improving the property.

He also expressed frustration residents had not stayed at the meeting to hear his comments and did not met with anyone in the city’s building or financial department about what to do and how to put these ideas together.

“I know the residents there are in a very stressful situation,” Johnson said. “But I think before we take this, take this next step, they need to have things in place, and the owners need to come to the table.”

Blue Island 1st Ward Ald. Dexter Johnson speaks about the mobile home park during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)

Krisann Kuecher, the attorney representing the residents, said it’s important to preserve the affordable housing on this property and said Williams has a history of turning around such mobile parks.

Williams said he hopes to have the property owners sign the intent to sell form this week and said, from his experience as a rapid housing provider, the process can move quickly so residents can have a place to stay.

He said he visited the property and his company, Proactive Sustainable Bonds, could put up fences and take out all of the dilapidated houses, replacing them with new energy efficient homes that are sustainable.

“When I say affordable, meaning workforce housing and people who want to participate in communities, they want to have a decent place to live that’s clean with their little dog tied up outside, you know, no unregistered cars, no code violations, just, no crap,” Williams said.

Blue Island officials sent a letter to the Forest View property owners in late July, demanding the owners to “cease and desist” and evict residents, mainly due to unsafe conditions, calling the property a “clear and present danger to the public health, safety and general welfare” of the city as well as those living on and near the premises.

The Police and Fire departments have also reported receiving an elevated number of calls concerning the mobile home property for issues such as theft, aggravated battery handgun, domestic battery, shots fired, domestic trouble or loose animals.

A Forest View Mobile Home Park resident speaks Tuesday at a Blue Island City Council meeting. The residents’ attorney Krisann Kuecher, along with Joe Cervantes, who has been organizing the residents to save the park, stand next with her. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)

The property managers also owe the city almost $4 million in unpaid water bills, Wogan said. In 2023, the city came close to shutting off the mobile home park’s water service after the landlord did not pay $850,000 in water bills. Residents protested and received a temporary restraining order to keep the water on.

Attorneys for the owners and residents of a mobile home park, along with the city’s attorney, agreed in July it would be unrealistic to save the park, contrary to the residents’ aims.

Infrastructure issues and building code violations would require significant investment to remedy, Kuecher said at the time.

The residents were given six months to a year to find alternative housing, and a relocation agreement was in the works between the property owners and residents.

But residents said Tuesday they want to continue working on the property sale with Williams and also get the property zoned as residential.

awright@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/possible-buyer-blue-island-mobile-homes/