In compliance with major changes in national public housing policy mandated by Congress, the Chicago Housing Authority formally announced its Plan for Transformation in January, 2000. Originally conceived as a ten-year redevelopment, now extended to 15 years, the Plan proposed a "fundamentally new approach to public housing in Chicago." The scope of Chicago's Plan for Transformation is immense. It contemplates the demolition of upwards of 18,000 units of public housing and the redevelopment or rehabilitation of no fewer than 25,000 (a net loss of 13,000 units), much larger than any other public housing redevelopment program in the country. Of the 25,000 new and rehabilitated public housing dwellings to be supplied under the Plan, some 12,000 are rehabilitated senior and scattered-site apartments, approximately 7,000 will be mixed-income family units in developments where only a minority of dwellings will be public housing, and approximately 6,000 will be rehabilitated units, nearly all in 100% public housing developments.
Most of the newly developed units will be located on the sites of demolished CHA developments — places where CHA is restricted by the Gautreaux court order from building new public housing — and therefore require approval of the Gautreaux court. As Gautreaux plaintiff class counsel, BPI staff members serve on Working Groups that oversee each redevelopment effort. Other Working Group members include representatives of CHA, the City, the CHA residents' Local Advisory Council (LAC), the community and the Habitat Company as the court-appointed Gautreaux Receiver. Each of the eleven redevelopment Working Groups participates in the selection of developer teams, reviews development proposals and monitors implementation of the site-specific plans (including for relocation and social services), and proposes mid-course corrections. When the Working Groups have developed appropriate plans, BPI attorneys seek the Court’s approval in order for the development process to proceed.
In evaluating physical development plans, BPI staff focus on issues that affect the viability and stability of mixed income developments and on ensuring that CHA residents will be included, and not segregated, in these communities. For example, dispersal of public housing units throughout a mixed income development is fundamental. Every block, and most building types, should be available to public housing residents and other low income renters. Rental and for-sale housing should also be intermixed. And developments should provide both rental and for-sale housing for low, moderate and higher income residents, so that effective community building can be achieved.
As a supporter, but also a constructive critic, BPI works to ensure that the Plan for Transformation will end the geographic and economic isolation, illegal racial segregation and inhuman conditions that has long marked Chicago’s public housing as some of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation. As a participant, BPI is helping to ensure that the opportunities presented by the Plan are not lost.
For information on CHA’s plans for each redevelopment site, as well as official Plan for Transformation documents, see www.thecha.org.
More information on Chicago's Public Housing Transformation:
