Hurricane Harvey: City Of Harvey Offers 10 Free Homes To Texas Storm Victims

HARVEY, IL — More than 900 miles separates Houston and Harvey, the suburb of Chicago that has the same name as the deadly hurricane. Now Harvey — the Cook County city with about 25,000 people — wants to help beleaguered Texans by offering 10 free homes to those who lost their homes to the storm.

Sean Howard, a spokesman for the city, told WMAQ-TV that volunteer tradesmen and carpenters will prepare the homes for the new residents. Renovations could take about six weeks.

The city acquired the homes due to unpaid taxes. Instead of selling the properties to investors, the city is making them permanently available to storm victims.

Harvey — the storm — made landfall Aug. 25 along Texas' Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane. Flooding has left thousands of Houston-area families homeless and dozens dead.

The city of Harvey offered a similar program to people who lost their homes in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. (For more information on the Harvey/Texas arrangement and other Illinois stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Photo credit: David J. Phillip/Associated Press