The Housing Authority of Cook County recently wrapped up a round of affordable housing rehabilitation that has topped $200 million since 2015, with much of the work taking place in the Southland.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle toured the renovated Vera L. Yates Homes in Ford Heights Friday and said she was happy to see how it looks.

“I saw this before we invested $16 million in it,” Preckwinkle said. “So it’s quite a transformation.”

That Ford Heights project alone saw $16.7 million in construction to 116 units that house nearly 400 residents from low-income families. The work includes repairs and upgrades to foundations, roofs, masonry walls, asphalt, sidewalks, windows, doors, lighting and mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

Inside units there were new floors, cabinetry, paint, fixtures and appliances.

Richard Monocchio, executive director for the Cook County Housing Authority, said this is the first major rehabilitation work that has been done on the Vera L. Yates Homes since they were built in 1967. He said the work took roughly 14 months and the cost averaged more than $100,000 per unit. The cost for a new unit would be about $350,000, Monocchio said.

“We decided preservation here was the right thing to do,” he said. “These units will be here and in good shape for the next several decades.”

Sheila Wilson, a 20-year resident, said she appreciates the upgrades. The homes have provided her family many opportunities over the years, and she has met great neighbors along the way, she said.

“It was a haven when I needed it most,” Wilson said. “It was quality of love, community.”

Ford Heights fire Chief Gregory Dillard grew up in the area when it used to be East

Chicago Heights and has served the town for decades. He said he knows the Vera L. Yates Homes did not always look this way.

“This is wonderful,” he said. “It looks inviting. The colors are beautiful. It looks safe. It looks like condos, really. It looks nice. I’m very proud.”

Monocchio said he regularly plays basketball with some of the youths on a court there, and has been thinking what the work will mean to the 237 children living in the homes.

“We’re giving these kids an apartment they can be proud of,” Monocchio said. “Everything works right. The exterior is beautiful. We’ve got landscaping, parks. It sends a message that no part of Cook County is going to be left behind.”

In the last few years, the county invested $19.8 million in the Richard Flowers Homes in Robbins, $28.1 million in the Edward Brown Apartments in Robbins and $26.5 million into the Golden Towers in Chicago Heights. Juniper Tower in Park Forest and the Turlington West Apartments in Harvey have also seen recent updates. Countywide, roughly 1,500 units have been rehabbed over the past decade, and there are plans to break ground on a veterans housing project in Chicago Heights later this year.

Preckwinkle said Cook County did work after the 2008 recession to learn how different regions recovered and found the Southland was among the “most challenged.” That has informed a lot of its work not only in housing but also transportation, economic development and infrastructure, she said.

“Regions that had the least inequality bounced back best,” Preckwinkle said. “This is a region in northeastern Illinois in which there is tremendous inequality. We decided we would make investments in those parts of the county that historically had been disinvested in.”

Monocchio said the county’s investment is not just buildings. A summer camp was to start Monday at the Vera Yates Homes. Fresh food deliveries are made all the time, he said. There is free diaper delivery, park spaces, cameras for safety and an area that may become a community garden.

“It’s not just the bricks and mortar,” Monocchio said. “It’s about the bricks and mortar, but it’s really about the people.”

Shabar Giles, the property manager, said the feedback she has received is rewarding.

“To connect with the tenants and listen to their concerns and aim for that goal to actually satisfy them, to make them feel comfortable with where they’re living, it means a lot,” Giles said.

When Monocchio started with the housing authority, roughly 11 years ago, he said the Vera L. Yates Homes were the first place he came.

“When I was walking around, my first thought was ‘This feels like a community; it just needs somebody to care about it and invest in it,’ ” he said. “To be able to see this today, it’s a miracle. The hard work our folks put in — this looks like a ranch-style community now. Before, it was written off as a place nobody would want to step foot in. It’s an honor to be able to provide this to people.”

Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.