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15. The Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority
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221 15. The Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority The transformation of Chicago Housing Authority public housing has involved demolition of almost all of its high-rise family buildings and their replacement with walk-up buildings, constructed by private developers , that now include residents of different income levels living side-by-side. All of this was made possible because of changes in federal regulations and federal funding, and the plan was set out in January 2006 in a single fifty-five-page plan called Chicago Housing Authority: Plan for Transformation: Improving Public Housing in Chicago and the Quality of Life. The plan calls for spending about $1.5 billion over the period of a decade, which actually carries forward the then current annual capital budget of about $150 million a year. The plan claims that only about 6,000 families are being relocated, which is a lowball figure. In the public mind, the dramatic event that has happened is the demolition of almost 9,000 units of the gallery-style high-rise buildings, with the largest concentration of them along South State Street, next to the Dan Ryan Expressway, and Cabrini-Green, on the Near North Side. The demolition has not been restricted to high-rise buildings—for example, the entire Ida B. Wells development was torn down—or residential buildings. Also demolished were scores of community buildings , Boys and Girls Clubs, day care centers, and even swimming pools. Along with the massive demolition, many of the former streets on the sites were rededicated to their former status after having been eliminated in favor of “superblocks” decades ago. In a quite amazing situation , the sites have gone full circle in their use and design in a period of fifty to sixty years. By 2010, in some locations such as Cabrini-Green and the Near West Side, hundreds of new units had been constructed, but on the other hand, many of the cleared sites on the South Side, such as where Stateway Gardens and Robert Taylor Homes stood, have remained mostly vacant due to a lack of demand for new housing at the locations involved, especially in light of the 2008 economic recession. The new units have been built and managed by private developers on land acquired or leased on a very long-term basis from the CHA. 222 Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority Ida B. Wells Homes courtyard, prior to demolition. Courtesy of David Schalliol Ida B. Wells Homes interior, prior to demolition. Courtesy of David Schalliol [44.222.138.70] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 14:56 GMT) 223 Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority The plan has involved demolition in excess of 18,000 poorly maintained housing units, and it signals the transformation of the CHA from primarily a developer and manager of public housing to a “facilitator of housing opportunities.” What allowed this rather incredible development was the congruence of two factors. First, federal legislation permitted—in fact, mandated—the changes, and second, it was the decision of Mayor Richard M. Daley, Sharon Gist Gilliam (chairperson of the CHA Board of Commissioners), the CHA Board, and the other important centers of leadership in Chicago to once and for all get rid of the public housing family high rises, as well as a good number of the mid-rise and walk-up CHA projects, which were considered too dilapidated to rehabilitate and maintain. Rehabilitation is also part of the transformation, for all sizes of existing projects. Especially nice jobs were done at the Trumbull Park Homes and the tiny Bridgeport Homes. At the 660-unit Dearborn Homes, new decoration was added to the formerly bland facades, giving the buildings something of an Italianate feeling visible from the Dan Ryan Expressway nearby. What makes all of this still more surprising is that the demolition and replacement of public housing also had to be approved by the lawyers in the Gautreaux case because the buildings are mostly in African Ida B. Wells Homes, prior to demolition. Courtesy of David Schalliol 224 Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority Renovated Trumbull Park Homes apartment building. Courtesy of David Schalliol Considerable ornamentation has been added to renovated Dearborn Homes apartment buildings. Courtesy of David Schalliol 225 Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority American areas of the city. This was facilitated by the fact that the redevelopment qualified under the “revitalization areas” provision of an order in the case. Among the first revitalization orders that were issued were for Cabrini-Green, Henry Horner...