This page includes numerous articles and publications examining the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan For Transformation.
Chicago Tribune
As Chicago’s flagship newspaper, the Chicago Tribune has undertaken a number of investigations into the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation. Most notable was their Sunday July 6, 2008 cover story entitled, “Public housing limbo,” the byline for which read,
Thousands of families displaced. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent. Years behind schedule. What went wrong with Chicago’s grand experiment.
Click any of the links below to learn more about the Plan for Transformation as told through articles and videos produced by the Chicago Tribune.
- Public housing limbo, Jason Grotto, Laurie Cohen and Sara Olkon, July 6, 2008
- Rebuilding a ghetto? (photo essay), September 22, 2008
- Public housing’s island, Jason Grotto, Laurie Cohen and Sara Olkon, October 10, 2008
- CHA History Stateway Plan for transformation (video), Chicago Tribune, May 5, 2009
- Chicago Housing Authority RSS feed
Residents’ Journal
Voices of the Voiceless
Residents’ Journal has been on the beat since the beginning of the Plan for Transformation. Launched in 1996 as an independent news source written for and by CHA tenants, Residents’ Journal has covered the demolition, relocation and redevelopment carried out under the Plan. Because Residents’ Journal’s reporters live in public housing and other low-income communities, each issue of Residents’ Journal is packed with first-hand accounts as well as investigative pieces on every aspect of the Plan. Through our Urban Youth International Journalism Program, youths trained in media skills write articles from their unique perspectives.
Residents’ Journal continues to be a voice for the voiceless today. As public housing tenants relocated, Residents’ Journal followed them into their new neighborhoods. Circumstances in many Chicago communities resemble horizontal versions of life in public housing – criminal street gangs dominate street corners and terrorize whole blocks, schools, social services and job training facilities are strapped for resources. The downturn in the nation’s economy, coupled with cuts to federal programs for the poor, have produced a low-income population of more than 660,000 in Chicago, larger than the population of New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina. Because major news media frequently stereotype low-income people and do not adequately cover issues in low-income communities, Residents’ Journal is expanding our coverage and circulation throughout the city’s South and West sides.
With the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, McCormick Foundation, Woods Fund of Chicago, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Landau Family Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Crossroads Fund and others, our not-for-profit corporation, We The People Media, continues to train adults and youths as award-winning reporters, editors and photographers. Below please find a link to the Residents’ Journal archives, which contain articles from each issue printed back to 2001. Check back frequently, as new posts and more archival material will be available soon!
We The People Media/Residents’ Journal home page
We The People Media/Residents’ Journal archives
In 2005, Residents’ Journal began an investigative series, “Deadly Moves,” which examined the effects of relocating tens of thousands of families out of public housing into other segregated, low-income neighborhoods on the South and West sides. The first installment of “Deadly Moves,” produced in concert with the Chicago Reporter, found that homicides increased in those neighborhoods to which residents relocated, not because public housing tenants caused crimes, but because the drug trade which had been allowed to fester in public housing also relocated to the South and West sides. “Deadly Moves” prompted Mayor Richard M. Daley to re-deploy more than 300 police officers. The report also won a 2005 Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club as well as the first-ever First Place New America Award from the National Society of Professional Journalists.
In 2006, Residents’ Journal published “A Questionable Connection,” an investigation of donations made by CHA contractors to a ward organization linked to the head of the agency. The report prompted a federal investigation and raised serious concerns about whether political considerations were interfering with the delivery of services vital to the success of the Plan for Transformation. After publication of “A Questionable Connection,” Residents’ Journal won the 2006 Studs Terkel Award from the Community Media Workshop.
The Chicago Reporter
Founded in 1972, The Chicago Reporter is an award-winning investigative monthly magazine that identifies, analyzes and reports on the social, economic and political issues in metropolitan Chicago.
The following list is the most in-depth compilation of stories, sidebars and graphic features covering the Plan For Transformation since its inception.
May-June 2008
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Mixed-income neighborhoods sound good in theory, experts say, but the reality is vastly different. - There’s No Place Like Home
Former CHA residents try to feel at home in mixed-income developments - Unity in Struggle
Residents fight to keep changing neighborhoods affordable, racially - A Natural Mix
In 2000, Cook County’s mixed-income areas were largely confined to the South and West sides of Chicago. There were no mixed-income areas in more than 35 Chicago community areas and dozens of suburban towns. However, in Chicago, Burnside on the South Side, Rogers Park on the North Side and the Lower West Side were home to the city’s heaviest concentration of mixed-income residents. In suburban Cook County, more than three of every 10 residents living in Riverdale and Dixmoor lived in mixed-income areas.
January-February 2008
- The Unwelcome Wagon
Middle-class homeowners clash with newcomers who they say disrupt the community. - Service Connector Caseload Crunch
Sidebar for “The Unwelcome Wagon” - New Additions
Even in the 10 community areas that have received the most relocated CHA families, those families constitute a small percentage of all rental units. - Exaggerated Impact
Relocated public housing families using Housing Choice Vouchers make up no more than 3 percent of the occupied rental units in any Chicago community area. However, negative reactions to these families have been strongest in some communities that have received the most relocated families, like South Shore and Roseland.
January 2008 Online
- Lost Voters, Lost Voices
Thousands of public housing residents fell off the voter rolls in Chicago during the first eight years of the Chicago Housing Authority’s $1.6 billion “Plan for Transformation.” - From Concentrated to Diffuse
As high-rises were demolished, large clusters of public housing voters have also disappeared. - Falling Off The Rolls
About 8,000 CHA residents who were registered to vote in 2000 are off the voting rolls.
September-October 2006
- Dumping Grounds
While they avoided the wrecking ball, some public housing developments are being wrecked by outsiders. - Inside and Out
CHA rehabs are getting mixed reviews. - Feeling flat
Under the CHA’s new flat rents, some working families will have to pay hundreds more to stay in public housing. - Poorest of the poor
Ickes Homes have the lowest average annual household income. - Running scared
Occupied units at CHA designated “relocation resources” on decline
July-August 2006
- The Good Ol’ Days
As the Robert Taylor Homes nears its end, many residents and former residents deeply miss the development despite its notorious image. - A Bitter Move
For one family, leaving Taylor brought tragedy. - Taylor: the man
He differed greatly from the buildings that bore his name. - Development decline
Current Taylor Homes residents less likely to escape poverty and unemployment than residents in 1970s.
July-August 2005
- Rising Values
The neighborhood surrounding Cabrini-Green has gone through a dramatic metamorphosis, fashioning it into one of the city’s fastest-growing and most-attractive neighborhoods. The racial pendulum there has swung from black to white. Property has transferred from poor renters to middle- and upper-class homeowners. And developers have transformed blighted property and vacant lots into luxury condominiums and well-known retail outlets. Similar transitions are occurring around other public housing sites slated for demolition as residential property sales within two blocks of those developments reached a combined total of more than $2 billion. - Neighborhood Transformations
Since 2000, as the landscape of public housing changes, the areas within two blocks of several developments have also changed dramatically. Real estate transactions have skyrocketed and the racial and economic mix of residents has shifted as public housing and other longtime residents leave and more affluent newcomers settle in new residential developments. - Mortgage Explosions
Since the Chicago Housing Authority launched its $1.5 billion plan to demolish public housing high-rises, owner-occupied home loans in the neighborhoods surrounding the targeted developments have exploded, growing at a rate nearly three times faster than elsewhere in the city. - Rapid Change
Teardowns bring new residents to once-unappealing areas.
March 2005
- Uncertain Prospects
For many CHA residents, supportive services will be key in securing their right to stay in redeveloped public housing. But, at some developments, including those where families have already started to return, the CHA and the developers have been slow to get the services going. And at one they haven’t begun a program at all. - Increased Numbers
In 1999, more than 6,000 families lived on the 10 public housing sites slated for redevelopment. The Chicago Housing Authority has been finishing new homes at a slower pace than originally planned and has to pick up the pace in the coming years.
July-August 2004
- Moving at Their Own Risk
Police officers, community activists, public housing residents and researchers said the demolition of high-rises has squeezed many competing street gangs and drug dealers into tighter and tighter spaces in public housing, often with violent results. At the same time, they said, the relocation process has stirred up territorial disputes in neighborhoods like Englewood, pitting young men with established gang and drug connections against residents from public housing, where different networks controlled the illegal drug market. In a joint investigation, Residents’ Journal and The Chicago Reporter found several murders that were linked to such disputes. The publications also found that the murder rate in CHA developments has nearly doubled since 1999, the year before the city launched its Plan for Transformation. - Death Toll
Since 1999, the year before the Chicago Housing Authority launched its Plan for Transformation, the number of occupied units in the CHA has declined 37 percent, and serious crimes have fallen nearly 48 percent overall. However, in that time, the number of people shot and killed at CHA developments has risen by 14 percent. The rate of firearm deaths per 1,000 occupied units in the CHA has nearly doubled, from 1.3 in 1999 to 2.3 in 2003. - Dangerous Destinations
More than 2,500 people were killed in Chicago from 1999 through 2002. Many of those murders occurred on the South and West sides where the Chicago Housing Authority has most often relocated its former residents. Among them are South Shore, Roseland and Englewood—three neighborhoods that totaled 55 murders in 1998 and 75 in 2003, a 36 percent increase. Citywide, homicides dropped 15 percent during that time. - Murder Capitol
The murder rate in Chicago, which led all U.S. cities in homicides in both 2001 and 2003, has declined slightly during the last four years. The city’s rate remains nearly three times the rate in New York but lower than the rate in other large cities in the Midwest. Of cities with a population of 100,000 or more, Gary, Ind., had the highest murder rate in the country, while Madison, Wis., was among those with the lowest rates.
March 2004
- Forgotten People
As the Chicago Housing Authority razes thousands of units as part of its 10-year Plan for Transformation, the city has tracked and attempted to find housing for leaseholders displaced by the demolition. But many observers say thousands of families without leases are the most at risk for homelessness, and the city has not committed enough resources to deal with the problem.
November 2003
- Keeping Current
Ask LeRoy O’Shield about the state of corruption in Chicago’s law enforcement community, and he quickly reaches his boiling point.
July 2003
- Court Case Threatens Civil Rights Protection
The Appellate Court of Illinois will soon decide whether to uphold a lower court ruling that landlords can legally refuse to rent to people solely because they have federal rent subsidies, The Chicago Reporter has learned - Voucher Holders Allege Most Discrimination
March 2003
- Watchdog Criticizes CHA Plan
A key component of the Chicago Housing Authority’s effort to transform public housing “is doomed to continued failure” unless funding is drastically increased, the CHA’s independent watchdog concluded in a January report. - Relocation Leaves Some Residents Struggling
A key component of the Chicago Housing Authority’s effort to transform public housing “is doomed to continued failure” unless funding is drastically increased.
October 2002
- One Year Later, CHA Program a Work in Progress
A year after its launch, city officials are still struggling to define and implement an ambitious program to help public housing tenants get jobs and social services.
April 2002
- Residents Lack Role in Revamped Public Housing
If current laws are not changed, thousands of Chicago Housing Authority residents will lose the right to vote for advisory council members who are charged with voicing tenant concerns. - Case Managers
- Staffing Shortage Hits CHA Families
The Chicago Housing Authority’s new program to connect residents with jobs, day care and other social services is significantly understaffed.
March 2002
- Cabrini Election Caught Up in Court
While a vocal Chicago Housing Authority critic was named the election’s winner, more than a month later the outcome is far from final.
April 2001
- Segregated Schooling
Between 1995 and 2000, five Chicago Housing Authority developments used federal funds to demolish and redevelop existing housing. Most of the 5,669 elementary school children who left their schools during that time moved to schools in mostly poor, black neighborhoods. - Falling Enrollments
As much of the city’s public housing falls, so do enrollments at the schools serving those developments. - Moving Out, but Not Up
Though some of their new schools were more racially and economically diverse, most children who left schools serving Chicago Housing Authority developments between 1995 and 2000 transferred to schools with above-average numbers of low-income, black and low-achieving students. - CHA Parents Seek Stability as Housing falls
Adjusting to new schools or traveling long distances to attend their old neighborhood schools are two of the consequences facing children who move out of public housing.
January 2001
June 2000
- Scattered-site Era Coming to an End
The Chicago Housing Authority has all but abandoned a decades-old effort to end the isolation and segregation of public housing residents by moving them into white neighborhoods.
April 2000
- Families Still Waiting on CHA, Section 8 Lists
Desperate for a place to live after losing their apartment in February, 45-year-old Mary Smiley and four of her children, ages 9 to 19, took a risk. Without a lease or permission, the family moved into a Chicago Housing Authority high-rise at 5247 S. Federal St., in the Robert Taylor Homes public housing development.
March 2000
- Let’s Make a Deal
Chicago needed legal shelter for its ambitious public housing plan. Did the federal government pick the wrong one? - Public Housing: Reading Between the Lines
On Feb. 5, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the Chicago Housing Authority’s “Plan for Transformation,” which calls for tearing down 52 high-rises within the next five to seven years. The plan envisions mixed-income communities and “compassionate” administration of Section 8 rent subsidies. It also guarantees all relocated residents the right to return to public housing.