Replacement of Public Housing Units Is Critical to Success of Lathrop Redevelopment

As the construction start date for mixed income redevelopment of Lathrop Homes approaches, most likely in early 2017, BPI is involved in activities to ensure that public housing units not being replaced on the site itself are replaced instead in non-segregated neighborhoods of opportunity on Chicago’s North Side.

Lathrop, constructed in the 1930s at Diversey Avenue and the Chicago River, once had 925 non-elderly low-rise units and is one of the very few major CHA developments on the North Side.  In recent decades, it fell into disrepair, and today only 144 units are occupied.  Ten years ago, CHA announced that it intended to redevelop Lathrop as a mixed-income community. After several years of planning and extensive community dialogue, a plan has now been adopted that calls for 401 public housing, 494 market rate, and 221 affordable units. The plan thus eliminates 524 public housing units in an amenity-rich North Side neighborhood that has quality public schools, low crime rates, a variety of job opportunities, and good access to parks and retail and healthcare services.

BPI supports moving ahead with the Lathrop redevelopment plan because of its desirable mixed-income configuration, because a number of former Lathrop residents have been waiting since the early 2000s to return to Lathrop, and because thousands of other families on CHA’s waitlist have been awaiting housing for many years.  Our support, however, is conditioned on CHA replacing the 524 “lost” units in non-segregated North Side neighborhoods of opportunity. In BPI’s view, failing to replace these units would violate obligations in the Gautreaux case.  We hope that over the next few weeks a plan will emerge that guarantees appropriate replacement of these precious North Side units for public housing families.

Stay tuned!