McHugh, Catherine

Catherine (Katie) McHugh was instrumental in the realization of the Catherine McHugh Senior Apartments for elderly members of religious and lay ministries. Katie is a long-time advocate for equitable housing and issues affecting the elderly. In the 1980s, she founded Illinois Citizens for Better Care, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving nursing home care, dealing with Medicare and Medicaid, and helping families choose nursing homes. From 1989 to 1993 she served as Executive Director of the Intercommunity Retirement Project, after which she served from 1993 to 2008 as President of the Intercommunity Housing Corporation. Katie worked for 17 years to bring affordable retirement housing to the aging and elderly of various religious orders. A 68-unit apartment building, originally named "Roosevelt Place," opened in 2007. Due to her constant and unflagging efforts to bring this project to fruition, on November 13, 2008 Roosevelt Place was officially renamed the "Catherine E. McHugh Senior Apartment Building."