CAIRO, IL – The Cairo community gathered on Saturday, August 17, to celebrate the groundbreaking of new affordable housing.
The mayor of Cairo said there was an influx of people leaving the community due, among other things, to a lack of housing.
For example, hundreds of families were displaced after the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development closed two social housing complexes in the city in 2019 and 2022.
But now the mayor hopes that this project will encourage people to come back and move to the city in southern Illinois and live there.
A local community celebrated the groundbreaking for the construction of more affordable housing on Saturday.
People in the community are excited about the construction project, including Brittany Matthews, who was born and raised in Cairo and currently serves on the school board.
“We’ve lost a lot of people in our community,” Matthews said. “To be able to do this development where we can bring back those who were displaced is great.”
Each house takes 45 hours to print. Mayor Thomas Simpson said the value of each house is between $170,000 and $200,000.
He is here to celebrate with the locals and plan future projects.
The street festival was hosted by the Fowler Bonan Foundation of Illinois State Senator Dale Fowler.
“I always tell everyone we’re in the rebuilding phase, and this is proof of that,” Simpson said. “Here’s the first house in, I don’t know, 30 years. This is probably built from scratch, and there will be more to come.”
Eminence Resource, Black Buffalo’s 3D printing technology and the city of Cairo have partnered for this construction.
The street festival was hosted by the Fowler Bonan Foundation of Illinois State Senator Dale Fowler.
Matthews looks forward to the future
People in the community are excited about the construction, including Brittany Matthews, who was born and raised in Cairo and currently serves on the school board.
“We’ve lost a lot of people in our community,” Matthews said. “To be able to do this development where we can bring back those who were displaced is great.”
“I hope Cairo can flourish again,” said Matthews. “I know it’s possible. It would take all of us working together, and for that we need people. And to have people here, we need housing.”
This project will involve building 30 semi-detached houses using 3D printing technology.
