3D-Printed Homes, an Abandoned $590,000 Deposit, the FBI: What Really Happened in This Small Town?
State and city officials break ground on the Cairo, Illinois, 3D-printed duplex project in August 2024. Outside a repair shop in rural southeastern Illinois, the parts of a massive 3D construction printer sat disassembled on a flatbed trailer, weeds climbing the wheels.The $1.1 million investment wasnt meant to end up there, abandoned.Two local men had taken out a loan from a tiny bank to buy the printer, promising it would spark an affordable-housing revival across hard-pressed southern Illinois. Their first stop was Cairo, at the states southern tip a historic river town beset by the loss of jobs and safe housing, now home to fewer than 2,000 mostly Black residents.In August 2024, after months of negotiations, the city finalized a deal with their company, Prestige Project Management Inc., to build 30 duplexes. Days later, the printer arrived and crews assembled it on a vacant corner lot at 17th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.More than 100 people showed up for the groundbreaking. Children clutched cotton candy and popcorn. Pallets of Amazon giveaways spilled from a truck. Behind a chain-link fence, the towering printer hummed to life, two American flags clipped to its steel legs, laying down the base of what was billed as the first new home built in Cairo in at least 30 years. The crowd cheered.Kaneesha Mallory pressed against the fence. She had grown up in Cairo, moved away, then returned after her daughter was born. Living in a cramped one-bedroom public housing unit across town, she imagined a bedroom her 6-year-old could finally call her own.Mayor Thomas Simpson called the project just the beginning. State Sen. Dale Fowler, whose district incorporates some of Illinois most destitute counties, described it as an extraordinary project the start of more development to come. His nonprofit organization, which serves low-income children and families, had secured a $40,000 donation to help pay for the event.More than 100 people gathered to watch a massive 3D printer lay down the walls of Cairos first home built in 30 years.Mallory couldnt bring herself to leave while her future seemed to be taking shape. She stayed in the August heat so long that she fainted and was taken to the emergency room by ambulance.Crews worked overnight to avoid the heat. Within about a month, the walls went up. Interior work followed.But then the work stopped before the duplex was finished. The owners would later say cracks dozens of them had begun running through the walls and that they needed to make sure the structure was sound. The printer disappeared.A year later, no one had moved into the duplex. It stood alone in a wide lot along a sun-bleached road.As I began to examine what happened, the story grew complicated.I learned that before the 3D printer arrived in Cairo, the Prestige owners had forfeited about $590,000 as a deposit for a different printer when they ended up canceling the order, a fact that would quickly turn the atmosphere tense as I pressed the companys owners, the bank, Fowler and others for answers.I also learned that not long after the groundbreaking, several employees left Prestige around the same time a spray of anonymous emails hit inboxes across the region. The emails called the Cairo duplex project little more than a publicity stunt and alleged fraud tied to Prestiges other construction projects.I also wasnt the only one asking questions. I discovered that the FBI has launched an investigation into Prestige led by an agent in southern Illinois who specializes in white-collar and public corruption investigations. To date, there have been no charges filed or arrests made, and Prestiges owners deny any wrongdoing.Over the past eight months, the more questions I asked, the more public officials distanced themselves from the project and the company. The broader housing plan the one that had fueled speeches and celebration started to look increasingly uncertain.I was determined to know: Was this simply another failed pitch to this dirt-poor delta town or something more?God Sent UsJamie Hayes, who inherited a Ford dealership from his father, and Erik Burtis, who had long supplied labor to coal mines, founded Prestige in 2021 in Harrisburg, Illinois, a town of fewer than 8,000 people about 80 miles northeast of Cairo.It is one of seven companies Hayes has started since 2020, three of them co-owned with Burtis, according to Illinois business records. The two, business partners since 2012, have taken on an eclectic mix of projects: school construction management, solar farm fencing and the 3D printing venture. Hayes provides the capital; Burtis runs the day-to-day operations.Burtis said he landed on 3D printing in early 2023 after asking his son Josh, who works for the company, to find out what was hot in construction. He reported back that it was 3D construction based on trends in Europe. Usually were five, maybe six, seven years behind what happens there, Burtis said.Burtis said God then laid it on his heart to start building in Cairo by donating the first home his company would print. Fowler, the state senator whose district office is in the same building as Prestige, said he listened to Burtis plan as they drove to Cairo to meet with town officials a few years ago. Fowler said he suggested building a duplex instead of a single home so two families could benefit. Burtis was moved by that idea.Illinois state Sen. Dale Fowler addresses the crowd at the groundbreaking. Prestige owners Erik Burtis and Jamie Hayes (seated from right to left) look on, alongside Burtis son Josh.He literally started tearing up, Fowler said. He told me the story in August as we talked in the back booth of a local barbecue restaurant.Did you cry, too? I asked.Yeah, Fowler said. Im about to right now just thinking about it.Cairos housing crisis is rooted in a long and complicated history. In 1972, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights visited the town and documented how racism had harmed Black families, including through neglect of their segregated public housing. Those problems only worsened over time.I grew up nearby and have reported on Cairos housing problems for more than a decade. In 2015, I documented how conditions in those once-segregated developments had withered into mice-infested slums, overrun with mold and contaminated with lead, while federal overseers looked the other way.Children ride bikes through Cairos Elmwood housing complex in 2017. Isaac Smith/The Southern IllinoisanThe McBride Place housing complex partway through demolition in 2019. Molly Parker/The Southern IllinoisanKevin McAllister demands answers in 2017 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during a residents meeting before the demolition of the McBride Place and Elmwood Place public housing. Richard Sitler/The Southern Illinoisan via APIn 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development took over the local housing authority and then demolished those apartment homes, displacing nearly 400 residents. In 2022, HUD evacuated another high-rise for seniors, then home to about 60 people. In less than five years, more than 300 apartment units were razed, accelerating the countys decline into one of the fastest-shrinking places in America.Cairo had seen ambitious promises before the 3D printer arrived. At the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, it draws entrepreneurs who see unrealized potential in its vacant storefronts and magnolia-lined streets of dilapidated mansions built by river barons in another era. Some come to help, others to take advantage it can be hard to tell. Residents have grown wary of outsiders with big ideas.Magnolia Manor, built in 1869, is one of several mansions lining Washington Avenue in Cairo.City Council member Connie Williams, a retired school principal, said city leaders had warned the Prestige owners not to make promises they couldnt keep.We kept saying to them, Look, weve had enough people come through Cairo talking all this crazy stuff and then back out, she said. And they were just like, No, no, oh no, thats not us. We are here. God sent us.The project attracted attention from Illinois top powerbrokers: Gov. JB Pritzker met privately with Burtis and Fowler in Harrisburg. Fowler also invited staff from U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworths office to learn about the project. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza toured the unfinished duplex and praised the effort on social media.To help manage the project in Cairo, the company hired Bucky Miller, a broad-shouldered lineman with a baritone voice. He said part of his job was to craft development plans and an agreement with city officials. Miller regularly drove 300 miles round trip from his home near St. Louis to meet with city officials. He told residents at a housing task force meeting that he took the job after reading about the decades of failed promises made to Cairo, and because of what Im good at: keeping my word.But he had no experience developing affordable housing, and neither did anyone else at Prestige. Burtis acknowledged the inexperience but said he planned to partner with developers who would secure financing and hire his company to handle construction.Before the Party, an UnravelingThe block party in August 2024 kids clutching cotton candy, everyone in a jubilant mood made it look like everything was on track. But I have now learned that significant parts of the project already were shaky even before the printer squeezed out the first cement.One big problem was acquiring the printer to begin with. In October 2023, Grand Rivers Community Bank approved the $1.1 million loan to purchase the printer a big bet for the rural lender in Karnak, Illinois, population 450, about 25 miles north of Cairo. The loan was nearly double the banks single-customer limit, requiring another regional bank to join in.Grand Rivers Community Bank approved a $1.1 million in October 2023 loan for a 3D printer purchase.That month, Grand Rivers sent half the cost of the printer, about $590,000, to Peri 3D Construction, which operated out of Texas, to purchase one of its most expensive models. Their agreement stated that delivery of the printer would occur six months at the earliest from receipt of the deposit. The exchange of funds triggered Peri 3D to commission a large-scale commercial printer from COBOD International, a Danish company that bills itself as the worlds leader in 3D construction printing technology.By January 2024, Hayes and Burtis said, they had become impatient. It had been only three months, but they said theyd given Cairo their word theyd start building that spring and felt the printer wasnt progressing fast enough. Hayes said, Here we go again is what Cairo is thinking.Fowler emailed the governors office a few days ahead of a visit Pritzker had scheduled that month in southern Illinois, calling the new 3D printer business a major humanitarian mission and asking for an opportunity to introduce the governor to Burtis, records show. Fowler and Burtis met with Pritzker at Harrisburg City Hall and discussed with Pritzker whether he had contacts in Germany, where Peri is headquartered, who could help speed production, according to Burtis. A Pritzker spokesperson said the governors office took no action after the meeting.Fowler sent an email in January 2024 requesting a meeting with Gov. JB Pritzker to discuss the 3D-printed homes. Obtained by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublicaFrom left: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker poses for a photo with Harrisburg Mayor John McPeek and Fowler. During a January 2024 meeting at Harrisburg City Hall, Fowler talked up the Cairo 3D printer project to the governor. Courtesy of Harrisburg Mayor John McPeekDays later, a Peri 3D sales rep emailed Burtis son that the printer was on track for delivery that April.Then, shortly after, Burtis and other Prestige employees traveled to Las Vegas to a concrete industry expo. Fowler said that Prestige paid for him to come along and that he agreed because he wanted to see demonstrations of the 3D printer technology. He did not report the trip on his annual economic disclosure form; he amended the form after I asked him about it last year.Burtis said a COBOD engineer at the expo told them that their printer was only 10% complete, though a COBOD executive said it did not have any engineers present at the expo that year. While there, Burtis also met with one of the few other potential printer suppliers, Black Buffalo 3D. That New Jersey-based company said it had printers available that it could deliver right away, according to Burtis.Shortly after the conference, Prestige tried to cancel the order for the original printer. Peri 3D did not appear to respond to Prestiges requests, according to an email exchange that Hayes shared with me.Two months later, Prestiges lawyer sent a letter to Peri 3D saying the companys request had been blown off and proposed Peri 3D keep about $60,000 10% and return the rest. When Peri 3D responded in April, just as the printer was due, it said none of the $590,000 deposit would be returned. Prestige did not write back, according to email records the company provided.Burtis and Hayes hadnt yet spent about $500,000 of their loan. Hayes told me they were ultimately no worse for the wear since Black Buffalo 3D agreed to sell a printer for what they had left.If I get 10 grand for a car, Hayes said. Say I pay 5 grand for a car and I dont get my money back, but I can buy another car that does the same exact thing, and I only pay another 5 thousand. What do I give a shit if I can get back and forth to work?He called the bank.We dont need any more money, Hayes said he told them. Can we get this taken care of?The bank agreed and wired the remaining funds to Black Buffalo 3D in April 2024.A Flimsy PlanGetting the printer to Cairo was one problem it wouldnt arrive until August 2024. Getting it to make sense financially was another entirely.For months before the printer arrived, Miller, the Prestige employee managing the project in Cairo, had been telling city leaders that Prestige would secure financing to build the remaining 29 homes after donating the first duplex.But city attorney Rick Abell said he couldnt get straight answers about how the development would be paid for or what it might look like.We kept saying to them, Look, weve had enough people come through Cairo talking all this crazy stuff and then back out. City Council member Connie WilliamsTypically, housing tax credits are used to build affordable housing in the U.S. But acquiring those is a highly competitive process that can take years to complete, a process that would be made even more challenging using an unproven construction technology and in a rural community. Theres no record that Prestige applied for any housing program funding.Phillip Matthews, who chaired the towns housing task force, said he repeatedly asked for a project rendering but never got it. That was strange, Matthews said, because normally, when a company determines theyre going to develop a piece of property, they have designs.Abell and city officials grew frustrated with the lack of clarity around the deal.Weeks before the kickoff party, city officials visited Prestiges office in Harrisburg. According to Abell and Matthews, Burtis told them Cairo would need to come up with the financing to build the other homes.The city did not have that kind of money.Simpson, the mayor, was perplexed. He said Burtis offered to help the city apply for grants for a fee but offered no specifics. Ive been getting grants for all kinds of stuff, but theres nothing for building housing, Simpson said.Burtis would later say that Miller had made unauthorized promises that Prestige would secure financing for the project; Miller disputes this.Despite the uncertain financing, the city wrote up a contract: Cairo would sell a vacant lot to Prestige for $1. Prestige would build one duplex, manage it for 18 months and then transfer ownership back to the city. The contract called for 29 more over the next three years, with no details on how they would be funded.The mayor signed the contract, hopeful the project would build momentum in a place that hadnt experienced much.Cairos Last Hope: Not Some Big Serious WhateverI first met Hayes, the Harrisburg car dealer who co-founded Prestige, in early September 2025, more than a year after Cairos 3D printer party. At the time, I didnt know about the abandoned $590,000 deposit or that there had never been a real plan for additional housing. I didnt know Prestige and its suite of sister companies had drawn the attention of the FBI.But I had already visited the defunct printer in the middle of nowhere late last summer. A former Prestige employee had sent me a Google pin to show me where it had been parked for nearly a year.After the 2024 Cairo duplex celebration, the 3D printer was parked at this country repair shop in Galatia, where parts of it sat outside on a flatbed trailer for more than a year.So I was taken aback when Hayes told me the printer, the size of a small garage when assembled, was stored on his lot.I asked if hed show it to me, a request that seemed to take him by surprise. Outside, we walked past rows of vehicles to the back lot. There was no printer just heat shimmering off blacktop and a long chain-link fence.He squinted into the sun, looked at me and shrugged. I dont see it, do you?Hed later tell me it had been there at one point, and he didnt realize it was gone. That strange episode would set the stage for the interviews that followed.Over many weeks, wed spend hours talking in the corner office of his car dealership in Muddy, Illinois population 40, a fading patch of coal country just outside Harrisburg near the Indiana border.With an easy, elastic charm, Hayes slid between humor and confession, candor and confusion. He told me Prestige was named after the fictional do-nothing company in the Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers. Its just stupid, he said. Im not like some big serious whatever.Eventually, hed blame everyone else including both printer suppliers for what happened: the stalled project, the cracks and the fact that Cairo still has no new housing.In August 2024, Cairo signed an agreement with Prestige for the company to build one duplex it would donate, plus another 29 homes over the next three years if the city could secure funding. Two years later, the lot in the center of town where the homes were to be built remains empty.Hayes told me Prestige had sued Peri 3D to recover its printer deposit. But for weeks he was vague about it. He said he hadnt seen the lawsuit and didnt know where it was filed nowhere around here, he told me.He flew into a rage when I told him the Peri 3D salesperson theyd worked closely with had called his company shady. At that point, he promised to find out where it was filed, but over multiple visits, hed tell me he still hadnt located it.I found the lawsuit during a records search at the Saline County Courthouse, steps from Prestiges office. It turned out that Prestige had filed the suit in early 2025, just as Peri 3D was laying off its U.S. staff. Prestige claimed in the lawsuit that it signed a mock document, not a real contract, and that it never received the language Peri 3D later claimed made clear the deposit was nonrefundable.Five months later, in August, a judge ruled in Prestiges favor after Peri 3D failed to respond to the lawsuit. In Saline County, where the poverty rate hovers around 20%, nearly double the statewide rate, the lost money stood out. Thats a lot of money, the judge remarked, according to a court transcript.Its a bad situation, Prestiges lawyer said. The judge replied, I guess good luck trying to collect it.Before I could tell Hayes that I had located the lawsuit, he texted me that afternoon: Looks like we did sue and won!!! he wrote. Whos the shady one now? (He later said he couldnt tell me where the lawsuit had been filed because hed largely left the business to Burtis to manage.)Still, he said he was resigned to the fact that theyd likely never collect their money and to date they havent.Burtis said they cant locate anyone from Peri 3D. When I followed up with Hayes this month, he acknowledged that the contract made the deposit nonrefundable and said he regrets not reading the fine print. Every time Ive done that, Im like, you know what, gahhh, why do I get screwed? Next time Im going to read through everything, he said.Ask Dale Fowler if theres any-fucking-thing going wrong. Jamie HayesBurtis said Prestige owes the bank roughly $13,000 a month under the terms of its 10-year lending agreement to pay for the original $1.1 million printer; over the full term, the company would pay more than $400,000 in interest. Prestige cant afford the note; Hayes said hes paying it out of one of his other business accounts.In an emailed statement from its German headquarters, Peri 3D said in October that it had conducted business in accordance with the terms and conditions of its contract with Prestige but would investigate the matter diligently in the coming weeks. When I followed up recently, the company declined to comment further. COBOD said it had not been delayed in constructing the printer and that it had no knowledge of a lawsuit since its contractual obligation was to Peri 3D and not Prestige.As I continued to ask Hayes questions, he told me the state senator could vouch for the deal.Ask Dale Fowler if theres any-fucking-thing going wrong, he said.A Modern-Day DanielWhen I reached out to Fowler in October, he wasnt vouching for much. He described Burtis and Hayes as acquaintances and himself as just a guy that wants to help people. He scoffed at Hayes claim that he could speak to any of their business dealings. And he said his role with the Cairo duplex project was minimal, limited to that of a cheerleader.His attempts to distance himself from the housing plan and company struck me as odd.The month after Prestige secured a loan for the printer, Fowlers office emailed promotional materials for Prestiges 3D printing business to the Illinois Housing Development Agency and touted the project before the state poverty commission he sat on, public records show.He brought other top state officials into the orbit as well. Three months after Cairos duplex block party, Fowler led Mendoza, the comptroller, on a tour of the property with Burtis and his son. In since-deleted social media posts, she called them visionaries. A Mendoza spokesperson said Fowler asked if she wanted to tour the duplex, but she was not otherwise involved with the company or its owners, and theyve received no state funding. The posts were removed after I asked the spokesperson if Mendoza had been aware that FBI agents had delivered a subpoena to Prestiges office just days before her tour.In a since-deleted Facebook post, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, center, poses in front of the 3D-printed duplex with, from left, Fowler, Erik and Josh Burtis, and Cairo Mayor Thomas Simpson. Screenshot by Molly ParkerFowler didnt tell me, but Id later also find out hed convened Duckworths staff to a meeting with Prestiges owners and the president of Grand Rivers Community Bank in early 2023 18 months before the 3D groundbreaking party in Cairo. A Duckworth spokesperson said the senators office had just revived discussions about how to address Cairos housing crisis when Fowler reached out and that the office did not have additional involvement with the company.People in Cairo also saw Fowler as key to the deal and reached out to him after it became clear the duplex had been left unfinished.When it fell through, we were all calling Sen. Fowler personally, because he brought them here, said Williams, the council member. According to Williams, Fowler told Cairo officials he was oblivious to Prestiges business dealings.Since its founding in September 2021, Prestige has been Fowlers largest source of campaign donations, not including those from political action and other committees. The company, and others owned by Burtis and Hayes, gave him $22,000 between May 2022 and August 2024. Its final donation of $6,500 was made to Fowler five days after the groundbreaking party for the 3D-printed duplex. Fowler said he doesnt track who donates to his campaign; he and Burtis said the donation was for Prestige co-sponsoring a golf fundraiser two months earlier.Fowler, a decadelong state senator who plays a key role shaping his caucus legislative priorities as a Republican assistant leader, announced last summer that he wouldnt seek reelection, citing a 10-year term limit pledge; his term expires in January.Fowler also told me in October that he had no knowledge of the federal probe of Prestige and had never been approached by investigators. Are they grabbing for straws? he said of the FBI.Fowler said hed known Hayes and Burtis for decades and doesnt believe theyve done anything wrong.Still, he said hed taken some unfair heat over the ordeal guilty by affiliation, I guess.But Fowler told me it wasnt the first time hed been criticized as an elected official, leading him to believe in his spiritual soul that he is the modern-day Daniel. In the Old Testament, Daniel was a virtuous believer thrown into the lions den by his enemies. But angels closed the lions mouth, saving Daniel, while his enemies ended up being chomped, mutilated, by the lions. Fowler said the story put him at peace.Ive never told this to anyone, he added. Ive never told this to my wife.The FBI Comes KnockingNot long after I began digging into what happened to the duplex in Cairo, I learned the FBI was also looking into Prestiges broader business dealings.Within weeks of the block party, six employees more than half Prestiges staff quit. Then Prestige received a federal grand jury subpoena asking for its financial records, Hayes and Burtis said.Ryan Moore, then a Prestige employee, points to a crack in the duplex in December, one of dozens the company says caused it to stop work. Prestige said it waited a year for its printer supplier to provide a crack remediation plan. When one wasnt provided, the company used hydraulic cement.The FBI has also subpoenaed two school districts and the city of Harrisburg for their contracts with and payments to Prestige for work unrelated to the duplex project, according to records obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The FBI declined to comment on the status of its investigation.Harrisburg Mayor John McPeek said the city did two projects with Prestige, though he said Fowler had encouraged the city to use the company more. A school district in Eldorado, one of those subpoenaed, ousted the former superintendent in September, in part for failing to get school board approval for about $2 million in payments to Prestige and related companies, public records show. The district declined to comment, and the former superintendent did not respond to requests for comment.Miller, the Prestige employee who hyped the 3D printing project to Cairo residents, was one of the employees who quit. When we first met up late last summer, he told me he had become an FBI whistleblower.Miller told me hed been taken advantage of, sent to Cairo to sell a false promise the company had no intentions of standing behind. He also told me about a flurry of anonymous emails sent via Proton, an encrypted email service, that accused Prestige of fraud not long after Cairos block party. The emails went out to various businesses and schools that had contracted with Prestige.Ive seen a lot of deals fall through. But we always knew why. Here, we got nothing. Rick Abell, Cairos city attorneyI, too, had received a Proton email about Prestige. It wasnt anonymous like the others, but was instead from someone claiming to be a COBOD executive. It directed me to open a DropBox file, but the link didnt work. That executive told me shed been impersonated; the company said it takes the matter very seriously.At one point, Miller claimed to me that he was the one who sent the Proton emails under instructions from the FBI, in an attempt to drum up investigatory leads. The FBI declined to comment, though three law enforcement experts told me this would be highly unlikely. Miller later changed his story, saying he hadnt sent the emails.Burtis initially refused to answer my calls, texts and knocks on his door, but he called me back in October and said he wanted to talk.For some reason, I woke up today, and after praying, it was like, You need to go ahead and talk to her, he said. Tears streaked his face. His aunt sat beside him, taking notes on a legal pad. He blamed Miller for trying to ruin his company and for spreading unfounded rumors about him and Hayes. Miller did not respond when I asked him about Burtis claims.Burtis also said he and Hayes have fully cooperated with the FBI, handing over all the financial records requested in the subpoena, though he said theyd never been interviewed by agents. If I was really in trouble, dont you think Id have been handed an indictment by now? Burtis said.His son Josh, who had been put in charge of the 3D printing venture, said the construction issues had been disappointing but they had been keeping the city updated. Hayes said hed been fully transparent with me and investigators.As I asked questions last fall, the printer sat outside on the flatbed, though some parts of it recently moved to Hayes car lot.The cracked house remained abandoned.Crews began working again on the duplex last fall after reporters started asking questions, but it remains unfinished.Hayes said the concrete ink that came with the Black Buffalo 3D printer was faulty and thats why the printer has been idle since. Black Buffalo 3D said it has offered Prestige a new concrete solution and to find a buyer for the printer if Prestige no longer wants it.Prestige and Black Buffalo told me in a joint email in September that they would return to Cairo by the end of October to fix the cracks, which they said were nonstructural. But Black Buffalo never showed up, saying its engineer couldnt sign off on a repair plan without city permits, which dont exist because they arent required. The company, which has sold only two printers in the U.S. since its founding in 2020, filed for bankruptcy in December.Burtis later said he engaged his own engineering firm to sign off on a remediation plan to fill the cracks with a hydraulic cement, though he declined to share that plan or the company name. Crews were recently working on the duplex; Burtis said the cabinets they ordered did not fit.Once the duplex is finished, Burtis said, he plans to turn the keys over to the city. Simpson said he will be ready. Still optimistic, the mayor said he hopes someone else will eventually follow through and build homes in Cairo.Abell, Cairos city attorney, said the failed venture has never sat right with him. Ive seen a lot of deals fall through, Abell said. But we always knew why. Here, we got nothing.Even today, he added, I probably have a lot more questions than Ive got answers.While some questions remain unanswered, one set of facts is undisputed: When HUD began dismantling housing here a decade ago, officials promised there would be an effort to build back. Today, the only thing that has been built is one duplex, still unfinished.Mallory, the mother whod hoped to have a two-bedroom home one day, said she is tired of waiting, as much as Cairo has always felt like home. In mid-March, she applied for a housing assistance program in Chicago. She worries Cairo cant give her daughter all she needs to thrive. I want more for her, she said. I thought I was going to be able to get a two-bedroom apartment.But in the end, she sighed, with the kind of resignation that comes from being disappointed too many times, it was just a bunch of broken promises.Kaneesha Mallory, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with her 6-year-old daughter, had hoped to move into the duplex.The post 3D-Printed Homes, an Abandoned $590,000 Deposit, the FBI: What Really Happened in This Small Town? appeared first on ProPublica.
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