Today Gautreaux plays an important role in the ongoing implementation of the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation. The court-appointed Receiver remains in place to oversee CHA development and, as determined by the federal court in 1997, CHA’s development plans today continue to be subject to existing court orders. Though these orders generally restrict construction of public housing in segregated neighborhoods, the court has permitted exceptions when persuaded that a neighborhood is "revitalizing," that is, where there is enough development activity underway or planned so that economic integration is likely in the short run and racial integration might follow in the long run.
The Gautreaux court has issued revitalizing orders authorizing redevelopment for several public housing developments, including Henry Horner, ABLA, Cabrini Green, Lakefront Properties, Stateway Gardens, and Madden Park/Wells. The court has also issued more limited orders authorizing development on the sites of Rockwell Gardens and the Robert Taylor Homes.
The court orders authorizing the development of this new public housing have been conditioned on a requirement that the public housing be mixed with affordable and market rate units in specified proportions and that the public housing be well distributed within each development. As the CHA Transformation Plan moves forward, the Gautreaux court will review any new plans that involve rebuilding public housing in segregated neighborhoods. In these cases, BPI lawyers, representing the Gautreaux plaintiff class, will continue to argue for appropriate conditions to ensure that any new public housing built will provide CHA residents with real housing opportunities.
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