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Current Issue

Fast-Track Deportations

Thousands are being deported without a chance to appear before an immigration judge.

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Court Ruling Puts More Teeth in Public Housing Plan

March, 1998 The Chicago Housing Authority is attempting to transform its isolated public housing communities into mixed-income communities. On the Near North Side, new town houses stand in stark contrast to the old towers of the Cabrini-Green housing development. But can this formula work in other parts of the city?

Table of Contents

Finding Sites for New Public Housing No Easy Task

Habitat has developed or manages more than 29,000 residences in Chicago and Detroit since 1971. Under the court order, the firm was given wide latitude to acquire land and select sites for development, then oversee the design and construction.
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Court Ruling Puts More Teeth in Public Housing Plan

The Chicago Housing Authority's plan to rebuild public housing on the sites of its worst high-rises may not go far enough to end racial and economic segregation, a federal judge has ruled.
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Understanding Public Housing

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City Set-Aside Program Misses Target

Brian RogalChicago's long-standing policy of encouraging minority and female participation in city contracts is suffering from neglect and lax enforcement, an investigation by The Chicago Reporter has found.
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Horner Moves at Faster Pace, But Much Work Remains

Cory Oldweiler

It is hard to believe the seven-story mid-rise at 1815 W. Monroe St., across from the United Center, is public housing. Instead of the open-air breezeway found in most Chicago Housing Authority developments, glass doors lead into a tiled lobby. Two guards are always on duty, monitoring closed-circuit security cameras and admitting guests. Residents use access cards to pass through a security door.

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Cabrini Changes Come All Too Slowly

Cory OldweilerAs a steady rain hit the mud and concrete at the Cabrini-Green housing development on Feb. 11, a Chicago Housing Authority moving truck pulled up to the high rise at 500-502 W. Oak St. The movers helped children, on their way to nearby Jenner Elementary School, at 1009 N. Cleveland Ave., negotiate the giant rain puddles that seemed to be everywhere.
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Is Section 8 Moving Away from Its Mission?

Danielle GordonSince 1976, the Chicago fair housing organization with the baffling name has helped more than 7,000 families use federal rent subsidies to move from public housing to 115 racially diverse communities in the city, suburbs and beyond.
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Gautreaux Decree Acts As An Equalizer

Danielle GordonThe Gautreaux Consent Decree has become synonymous with efforts to end the isolation of poor, black families in public housing.
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HOPE VI: Same Areas, Better Buildings

James P. PerezThe federal government wants to demolish 95,000 units of America's worst public housing by 2003 and replace them with viable, socially and economically thriving communities.
Chicago undoubtedly will be its greatest challenge.
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