During the dog days of summer this year, hot weather and a faulty air conditioning system forced the South Suburban Humane Society to evacuate pets kept at its Homewood adoption center.
Unusually warm weather toward and end of August that lingered into early September made uncomfortable conditions inside the building, 2207 183rd St., unsafe for animals being kept there, according to Emily Klehm, the society’s chief executive officer.
“There was hot, steamy air coming up through the vents,” she said Monday.
Costly repairs for that as well as ongoing plumbing issues have prompted the society to close the Homewood facility as of Friday and move the remaining animals to its main location in Matteson, Klehm said.
The society plans to host adoption pop-up events in Homewood after the adoption center closes, she said.
“We want to make sure we continue to have as much of a presence in the Homewood and Flossmoor area as possible,” she said.
The Homewood center was built in the 1970s for use as an animal hospital, and the humane society opened the pet adoption center in June 2019 as a way to give the society some breathing room.
The Homewood location provided “a much-needed, short-term solution for several years” when the society was operating from its former home in Chicago Heights, which had many challenges, Klehm said.
The Matteson facility, which opened in 2022, is a state-of-the-art, 19,000-square-foot space that includes adoption and intake centers, a low-cost spay/neuter clinic and a low-cost veterinary services clinic. Located at 21800 Central Ave., it has the capacity to house 60 dogs and 75 cats in kennels designed with the most up-to-date animal welfare standards, according to the society.
The way the Homewood building is designed, no more than 15 dogs, typically smaller dogs and puppies, could be safely housed at any given time, Klehm said.
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Problems with the air conditioning and plumbing had long been issues at the Homewood facility, and the society was looking at repair costs ranging from $350,000 to $750,000, she said.
“By streamlining operations, we’ll reduce demand on staff and volunteers, be more efficient with donor dollars and better support animals in need,” Klehm said.
So far this year, the Homewood location has fostered 430 adoptions while the Matteson location has completed more than 2,100 adoptions, she said. The society also hosts off-site adoption events which this year have put 860 animals in new homes, Klehm said.
The society held adoption events at Petco in Homewood and has more planned, as well as holding adoption events at Homewood Ford and Flossmoor Station Brewery, she said.
“We’ve found that when we bring adoption ready dogs and cats to the community it’s enriching for the pets and they find their forever homes more quickly,” she said.
Klehm said no decision has been made on what to do with the Homewood building, which the humane society owns, and that is something that will be decided in the coming weeks.