Housing crisis hitting home

Hammer on nail formed the economic drumbeat in McHenry County for many a year.

For more than a decade, growth spelled boom times for trades people, Realtors, developers, building material suppliers and retailers. It pumped millions of dollars into the local economy through wages, purchases and sales taxes. Government coffers reaped a steady flow of the funds that come with increasing property values where new homes replaced cornfields.

The dust flew as bulldozers tore into the earth, carving thousands of foundations for homes and the businesses that follow rooftops.

In Huntley alone, 1,157 single-family home permits were issued as recently as 2003.

Lately, though, the silence is deafening. Through October of this year, Huntley has seen just 100 detached single-family home permits pulled. The story resounds in communities throughout McHenry County, from Cary, where four permits were issued during its last fiscal year, to Woodstock, where 32 permits had gone out this year through Sept. 1. read more