Chicago suburb offering 10 free homes to victims of Harvey

HARVEY, Ill. (AP) - A Chicago suburb is offering 10 free houses to people in Texas who have lost their homes to Harvey.

Harvey, Illinois, spokesman Sean Howard tells WMAQ-TV that volunteer tradesmen and carpenters are going to the homes this weekend to prepare them for new residents.

The television station reports that the city acquired the homes due to unpaid taxes. Instead of selling the properties to investors, the city is making them available to storm victims. Renovations could take about six weeks.

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.

Harvey, Illinois, offered a similar program to people who lost their homes in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.

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Information from: WMAQ-TV.