GRAND BOULEVARD — With the City Council reconsidering legislation that would subject the Chicago Housing Authority to increased public scrutiny, housing activists took to the streets Thursday to win over aldermen.
Members of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center and the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization called on Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), who has one of the highest concentrations of CHA land and projects, to support the legislation and put a moratorium on the sale of any CHA land.
“We don’t need to tear down housing intended for residents and build commercial development, that’s ludicrous,” said Cheryl Johnson, a resident of Altgeld Gardens.
Dowell has not joined about 15 of her colleagues in support of the ordinance, which would require the CHA to replace every unit it tears down with a new one from here on out, issue as many housing vouchers as it is able and bring the CHA before the City Council for quarterly reports.
Dowell is "supportive of the ordinance generally, but thinks there should be more discussion, particularly around housing vouchers and mobility counseling,” said Kevin Lampe, a spokesman for Dowell. “She also hopes these concerns will be heard before the housing committee on which she serves.”
Lampe said the alderman believes developments like XS Tennis, Mariano's and other projects on CHA land support the for-sale housing and retail that is necessary to coexist with the public housing to create a viable community.
Wendy Parks, a spokeswoman for the CHA, said the housing authority is planning to spend more on building housing units. She said CHA would invest $240 million to build affordable housing this year compared to $135 million in 2014.
Parks also said the CHA would spend down more of its reserves, which she said were down to $221 million at the beginning of the year.
The CHA’s savings, which had ballooned to at least $440 million at the end of 2013, spurred calls for greater oversight from housing activists and even prompted a call from the HUD Secretary Julian Castro for more active investment.
The activists say they are pushing for greater transparency because the CHA has not fulfilled its promises to rebuild units, most recently at Ickes Homes in the 3rd Ward.
Roderick Wilson, executive director of the Hope Center, said the CHA promised to bring back 402 public housing units to Ickes when it announced it would tear the development down in 2007.
CHA documents show the number of units was nearly halved as the plan moved forward to 204 units.
Lampe said Dowell supports increasing the number of public housing units at Ickes.
The ordinance has failed in City Council once already, but was re-introduced July 29 by Ald. Joe Moreno (1st). It has garnered support from 19 aldermen.
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