Chicago Housing Authority
Encyclopedia
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is a municipal corporation established by the State of Illinois in 1937 with jurisdiction for the administrative oversight of public housing within the City of Chicago. The agency's mission is guided by a Board of Commissioners appointed by the city's mayor, and has a budget independent from that of the City of Chicago.
It has built a number of public housing projects over the years. The Julia C Lathrop Homes were built in 1939. Cabrini–Green was started in 1942, ABLA
is a complex of buildings started in 1943, Stateway Gardens
was started in 1955, and Robert Taylor Homes
was started in 1962.
In 1966 Dorothy Gautreaux and other CHA residents brought a suit against the CHA, in Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority. It was a long-running case that in 1996 resulted in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) taking over the CHA and the Gautreaux Project
in which public housing families were relocated to the suburbs. In 2000, the CHA began its Plan For Transformation, which called for the demolition of all of its gallery high-rise buildings because they failed HUD's viability test and proposed a renovated housing portfolio totaling 25,000 units.
Between 1950 and 1969 the CHA built 11 high rise projects for public housing, which isolated the extreme poor in "superblocks" that were not easily patrolled by police vehicles. Most of the households were headed by females, and the developments were almost entirely African American. Cabrini–Green, Henry Horner, Harold Ickes were just some of the developments. Robert Taylor Homes, constructed in 1962, was the largest public housing project in the United States, claiming more than 4,000 units.
It has built a number of public housing projects over the years. The Julia C Lathrop Homes were built in 1939. Cabrini–Green was started in 1942, ABLA
ABLA
ABLA was a public housing development made up of different public housing projects in Chicago, Illinois, operated by the Chicago Housing Authority. The name "ABLA" was an acronym for four different housing developments that together constituted one large site...
is a complex of buildings started in 1943, Stateway Gardens
Stateway gardens
Stateway Gardens was a Chicago Housing Authority public housing project in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the South Side of Chicago, alongside the Dan Ryan Expressway, adjacent to the former Robert Taylor Homes. Stateway Gardens was home to people living in mid- and high-rise apartment buildings...
was started in 1955, and Robert Taylor Homes
Robert Taylor Homes
Robert Taylor Homes was a housing project in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the South Side of Chicago, on State Street between Pershing Road and 54th Street alongside the Dan Ryan Expressway.-History:...
was started in 1962.
In 1966 Dorothy Gautreaux and other CHA residents brought a suit against the CHA, in Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority. It was a long-running case that in 1996 resulted in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
(HUD) taking over the CHA and the Gautreaux Project
Gautreaux Project
The Gautreaux Project is a US housing-desegregation project initiated by court order. It is notable both for being one of the only social programs based in a randomized experiment, and the only anti-poverty housing program endorsed by the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations.-Chronology:The...
in which public housing families were relocated to the suburbs. In 2000, the CHA began its Plan For Transformation, which called for the demolition of all of its gallery high-rise buildings because they failed HUD's viability test and proposed a renovated housing portfolio totaling 25,000 units.
Between 1950 and 1969 the CHA built 11 high rise projects for public housing, which isolated the extreme poor in "superblocks" that were not easily patrolled by police vehicles. Most of the households were headed by females, and the developments were almost entirely African American. Cabrini–Green, Henry Horner, Harold Ickes were just some of the developments. Robert Taylor Homes, constructed in 1962, was the largest public housing project in the United States, claiming more than 4,000 units.
See also
- Hills v. GautreauxHills v. GautreauxHills v. Gautreaux 425 U.S. 284 , was a decision of the United States Supreme Court.In this case, a number of Chicago families living in housing projects were awarded Section 8 vouchers allowing them to move to the suburbs in compensation for the housing project's substandard conditions...
, a 1976 Supreme Court case - Chicago Housing Authority Police DepartmentChicago Housing Authority Police DepartmentThe Chicago Housing Authority Police Department, also known as the CHAPD, was created as a supplement to the Chicago Police Department , to provide dedicated police services to the residents of one of the nation’s most impoverished and crime ridden developments for low income housing...
- Marshall Field Garden ApartmentsMarshall Field Garden ApartmentsThe Marshall Field Garden Apartments is a large non-governmental subsidized housing project in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The project occupies two square city blocks and was the largest moderate-income housing development in the U.S. at the time of construction in 1929...
- Blueprint for Disaster (2009), a book by D. Bradford Hunt
- "Understanding Chicago's High-Rise Public Housing Disaster", in Chicago Architecture: Histories, Revisions, and Alternatives, edited by Charles Waldheim and Katerina Reudi Ray (University of Chicago Press, 2005).
- "How Did Public Housing Survive the 1950s?", Journal of Policy History, 17:2, Spring 2005, 193–216.
Further reading
- Dizikes, Peter, "Chicago hope: Ambitious attempt to help the city’s poor by moving them out of troubled housing projects is having mixed results, MIT study finds", MIT News, MIT News Office, March 3, 2011