History of Public Housing in Chicago

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History of Public Housing in Chicago

• By Ray Hess

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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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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.

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Projects Opened in 1938

• Jane Addams Houses
• Near West Side
• Comprised of 32 buildings
• 1,027 families

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Projects Opened in 1938

• Julia C. Lathrop Homes
• North Side
• 925 Families
• Trumbull Park Homes
• Far South Side
• 426 Families

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The Other Project

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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1950s 1960s

• 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

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1950s 1960s

• Cabrini-Green
• Began with 586 units in 1942
• Extension was built in 1958
• William Green homes built on adjacent site in 1962

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The State Street Corridor

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

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CHA Building Stats

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

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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

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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.

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1990s

• 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

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Cabrini-Green Today
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Cabrini-Green Today
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Cabrini-Green Today