Perhaps Pete Hegseth, the nominee to be secretary of defense in the Trump administration, has ideas on what to do with dilapidated military housing in North Chicago. The eyesore subdivision is being returned to Navy control after years of private industry neglect.

That is if Hegseth, a former Army captain tabbed by President-elect Donald Trump, makes it through the gauntlet of interviews and conversations with U.S. senators, like Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Herself a decorated Army veteran, she sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and has described Hegseth as unqualified to run the immense Department of Defense.

Duckworth has noted he was chosen for the important national post because he’s someone “that Donald Trump thinks looks good on TV.” It’s kind of like the legendary anchorman Ron Burgundy at the Navy port of San Diego station KVWN-TV. After all, Hegseth was a Fox News pundit.

If confirmed by the Senate, he should also get to the bottom of how a once-robust subdivision set aside for sailors and their families, Halsey Village, turned into what some have called a “Zombie Village” following years of apparent neglect. The 90-acre property is off Green Bay Road, north of Route 137, and just across the street from the busy Navy Exchange.

Lake County officials, led by County Board Chair Sandy Hart, D-Lake Bluff, and North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham, have hounded Hunt and the Defense Department for years over the condition of Halsey Village. Their persistence, along with that of their ally Duckworth, has paid off.

Officials announced that commanders at Naval Station Great Lakes have received approval to take control of the parcel from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, according to a News-Sun Dec. 10 account by Steve Sadin. The formal takeover of the almost-abandoned property, now surrounded by a creepy fence line with numerous gaps, is expected by spring 2025.

The few remaining families in Halsey Village will be moved to other military housing locations, like nearby Forrestal and Nimitz villages, by the end of January, Navy officials have said. If they are lucky, they might get assigned down the Lake Michigan shoreline from Great Lakes to Fort Sheridan, where sturdy suburban single-family homes have nice views of the big lake. “The difference between the two developments is staggering,” Hart said in an email.

In a letter last fall to an official of El Paso, Texas-based Hunt Military Communities, Hart and Rockingham urged the company to “make immediate, wide-scale improvements across this entire neighborhood.” They said the property “is an insult to Great Lakes, the City of North Chicago, and Lake County overall that it has been allowed to fall into such an outrageous state of disrepair.”

“Hunt’s apparent disregard for the quality of life of the residents is terrible in and of itself, but given that Hunt is a partner of the U.S. government, it makes it particularly egregious,” Hart and Rockingham pointed out. “The residents of Halsey Village, the Navy, the City of North Chicago, and all of Lake County deserve better.”

Surprisingly, the Department of the Navy allowed the community to degrade, despite it being named for one of the naval heroes of World War II, Adm. William Halsey, and streets named for past naval vessels. Halsey Village was constructed in 1962 on land once used as a target range.

Currently, 71% of the community is abandoned, officials have said. Of 352 homes, 249 have been condemned, surrounded by trees and bushes overtaking the houses. Ironically, the military housing webpage for Naval Station Great Lakes continues to tout the single-family, quad-and-duplex community where many of the empty homes are boarded up with black plywood:

“Halsey Village features spacious two or three-bedroom homes with updated interiors and select homes feature attached garages or finished basements. Each home comes with an equipped kitchen and washer/dryer connections. Halsey is conveniently located just across the street from the NEX Commissary. This fantastic community is within walking distance of Rosalind Franklin University and The Naval Station.”

A Hunt spokeswoman said in an email that the company, “attempted to sell the land multiple times, however, was unsuccessful due to pre-existing constraints on the land.” She added the firm gave the Navy notice in 2017 to release the Halsey Village parcel back to the Navy for sole control and demolition. “Hunt Military Communities is fully supportive of the Navy’s efforts.”

Considered by Hart and Rockingham to be the worst neighborhood in Lake County, they and others would like to see the property turned over to the city to be used for future housing opportunities. Especially considering Lake County is short some 8,000 housing units, much of that amount affordable housing.

With the change in Halsey Village’s conservatorship, there may be life in the dystopian community after all. Along with that, someone should figure out where smooth sailing in a once-vibrant neighborhood hit the rocks.

Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.

sellenews@gmail.com X @sellenews