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History of Public Housing in Chicago

History of Public Housing in Chicago. By: Ray Hess. In The Beginning. The initial goal of public housing: Provide decent housing for poor and low income households. Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) founded in 1937. Responsible for all public housing in Chicago.

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History of Public Housing in Chicago

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  1. History of Public Housing in Chicago By: Ray Hess

  2. In The Beginning • The initial goal of public housing: Provide decent housing for poor and low income households. • Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) founded in 1937. • Responsible for all public housing in Chicago.

  3. First Public Housing Projects • Made possible by the Public Works Administration & then the federal Housing Act of 1937 • Prior to World War II, there were four projects.

  4. Projects Opened in 1938 • Jane Addams Houses • Near West Side • Comprised of 32 buildings • 1,027 families

  5. Projects Opened in 1938 • Julia C. Lathrop Homes • North Side • 925 Families • Trumbull Park Homes • Far South Side • 426 Families

  6. The Other Project • Ida B. Wells Homes • Built for black families • Far larger than other projects • Housed 1,662 families • Met with much opposition

  7. Racial Segregation • The Neighborhood Composition Rule • Managers were selective in choosing tenants from applicants • Had to be one employed breadwinner in the family • Tenants had to behave according to prescribed rules

  8. World War II • CHA was redirected to create housing for workers in the war industry • Altgeld Gardens • Built in Riverdale • 1,500 units • Black War Workers

  9. Post World War II • CHA provides several thousand units of temporary housing for Veterans • Neighborhood composition rule was abandoned • Short-lived policy of racial integration was introduced • A series of violent white/black confrontations resulted

  10. Housing Act of 1949 • Provided substantial funding for public housing • CHA was ready with a map of proposed sites • City council rejected this map altogether

  11. 1950’s & 1960’s • High-rise projects took one basic form • Larger than earlier developments • Averaging about 1,027 apartments • Most were built in superblocks • Many projects reached 15-19 stories in height • In style, they were modern, but plain

  12. 1950’s & 1960’s • Cabrini-Green • Began with 586 units in 1942 • Extension was built in 1958 • William Green homes built on adjacent site in 1962

  13. The State Street Corridor • Narrow zone of public housing • More than 4 miles long • The Corridor included: • Stateway Gardens (1958) • Robert Taylor Homes (1962)

  14. CHA Building Stats • By 1968, CHA built 168 high rise buildings • Approximately 19,700 apartments for families

  15. Gautreaux v. CHA • 1966 - Tenants sue CHA • Agency was continuing racial segregation by building projects in the ghetto • Federal judge banned CHA from building additional family housing in black residential areas • Agency was ordered to build housing elsewhere in the city

  16. CHA after Gautreaux • Almost all housing built by CHA was for elderly tenants • Housing that could be built in white sections of the city • Between 1959 & 1976, 46 developments, totaling 9,607, units were built.

  17. 1990’s • HUD takes control of the CHA • Mismanagement and poor performance were two main reasons • HUD introduces radical change of policy • Between ’96 & ’97, several high rise buildings were demolished • CHA eventually gained control of the federal government • CHA undertook continued demolition and redevelopment plans

  18. Cabrini-Green Today

  19. Cabrini-Green Today

  20. Cabrini-Green Today

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