In 2022, the Better Government Association (BGA) reported on activities of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). The BGA looked at the number of homes that the CHA had demolished, and how many had been replaced over a 25 year period. The BGA also looked at promises of employment and other supports that the CHA made to public housing tenants. These were promises made to the people who were being evicted from their homes in order for demolitions to proceed. In every aspect, the BGA found the CHA fell far short of its promises1.
Advance 12 months and here is another report about the CHA. This time, it’s from Pro Publica. It’s about CHA owned lands and how they have been repurposed in the years following the demolition. Reading through, it seems that the CHA’s mission could reasonably be called ABH (anything but housing). Even with the excellent work of the Better Government Association that points out how far the CHA is behind in its promises. Even with local protests and appeals for more housing, some hundreds of units have been built to replace the tens of thousands that were demolished.
The Pro Publica report also digs into the interactions between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the CHA. It took quite a bit of work to obtain the numbers, but the findings are very consistent. HUD is virtually sitting on the sidelines and letting the CHA do what it feels it needs to do. HUD’s record as a poor overseer of housing authorities includes Chicago, as well as other cities that Pro Publica studied.
The findings aren’t really surprising to the people who lived in the houses that were demolished and not replaced and who were promised jobs that never materialized. They keep on supporting each other and pressing for more deeply affordable homes to be built.
Read more about the Chicago Housing Authority and HUD’s ‘oversight’ at Pro Publica: The Chicago Housing Authority Keeps Giving Up Valuable Land While HUD Rubber-Stamps the Deals
