Memories of his childhood in foster care homes on Springfield’s east side and his more recent behind-the-scenes struggles on the Springfield City Council to improve the substandard living conditions faced by many constituents brought Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory to tears.
“For me, this is a special time, man,” Gregory, his voice choked with emotion, said at an outdoor podium next to Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, 2208 E. Kansas St.
The 42-year-old alderperson spoke at the Sept. 17 groundbreaking ceremony for the fifth phase of affordable home development in the Nehemiah Expansion project.
The $20.7 million in housing construction will fund the creation of 45 new two-, three- and four-bedroom homes for low-income tenants by the end of 2027. The work includes the demolition of deteriorating homes on lots acquired by Nehemiah and the city.
When complete, the latest phase will bring the total number of new homes to 165 since Nehemiah’s first phase began in 1999 as an arm of Calvary Missionary Baptist and a vision of the church’s longtime pastor, the Rev. Silas Johnson. All of the Nehemiah phases are within six blocks of the church.
“We’re about to build these homes,” Gregory said, “but this stuff is hard. It’s hard to do for our community. … I thank everybody who sat down and tried to make this thing work for the best of our community – not for anything selfish, but for the people who need a home, nice homes.
“I knew the work that we put in, the fights that we’ve had to bring people to the table for our communities,” Gregory said. “I just want to see us work more, ‘cause we need more, because that’s what we hear from our people – to do for us, to bring us new investment, to make us a part of this city. And this is another step.”
The original plan to construct 50 new homes in the fifth phase was downsized to 45 homes. The reduction was necessary, according to Mike Niehaus, owner of Springfield-based Windsor Homes, Nehemiah’s general contractor, because Windsor wasn’t able to qualify for $1 million in federal block grant funds from city government and $500,000 from the city’s Far East Tax Increment Financing District for the project.
Both funding sources were approved for the project by the City Council in 2025. But the block grant and TIF funding depended on a signed “project labor agreement,” or PLA, that guaranteed union participation.
For the block grant and TIF funding to flow, a PLA was required for this type of project based on a city ordinance passed by the council after Mayor Misty Buscher took office in 2023. Her campaign was heavily supported by building trades unions.
Niehaus said Windsor wasn’t able to reach agreement on the terms of a PLA with area unions. Aaron Gurnsey, president of the Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council, confirmed the failure to work out an agreement but declined to elaborate.
Johnson, 71, a retired union electrical worker, said lack of a PLA and related reduction in the number of homes to be built were “very disappointing because the need is so great.”
Regardless, union tradespeople will be used whenever possible, Johnson said, and prevailing wage will be paid because of the involvement of the Illinois Housing Development Authority in the project.
IHDA provided $16.7 million in federal and state tax credits – amounting to 80% of Phase 5’s development costs.
Affordable housing can be expensive to develop. This phase will cost more than $461,000 per unit. Total costs include consultant fees and tax credits, which are needed because housing with below-market rents typically doesn’t attract private investors without additional incentives.
More than 350 families have applied for one of the 45 spots to rent and later have the option to purchase the homes, Johnson said. Four homes from the first phase of the project have been bought by former renters, he said.
Johnson said he has hopes for sixth phase of Nehemiah, one that would include 50 more affordable homes, as well as a senior-citizen housing development with at least 60 units.
“There is a massive need for affordable housing,” he said.
Nehemiah Expansion is a nonprofit, and the organization’s rental homes are tax-exempt, but Nehemiah forwards more than $100,000 a year in payments in lieu of property taxes to School District 186, city and county government and other local taxing bodies, Johnson said.
The 45 new homes will be in wards 2 and 3.
Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams Jr., said, “Safe, clean, accountable housing is so important.”
He said he uses the term “accountable” because Nehemiah is a local landlord and has been responsive to its tenants’ concerns.
“I ain’t got to worry about out-of-state landlords,” Williams said. “I know where to find them. … I thank God that the vision was given to the pastor, that the church understood the vision and supported him on the vision, because it is needed. We cannot build fast enough.”
State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, a former Ward 3 alderperson and former Sangamon County Board member, lives a few blocks from Calvary Baptist. She attended the groundbreaking ceremony and commended Johnson, saying it was a “remarkable day.”
“Rev. Johnson, look how far we done come,” she said. “Where there was blight, we have seen new houses come up. Where there were vacant lots, we have seen houses come up. And that’s not just a house. That’s a home for someone. That’s a place where people can feel safe. They can feel comfortable, and they can raise their children, and their children have a place to come home to.”
Amy Rasing, the city’s director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development, said the mayor, who was out of town, sent her greeting to participants of what Rasing called a “ground blessing” ceremony.
Raising said the project is “putting people in more than a home. It’s also bringing people together – neighbors helping neighbors.”
